Media Briefing from Friends of the Earth International
WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM MEETS IN DAVOS
Counter Summit Also Gathers In Alpine Resort to Plan Campaigns
This week, world and business leaders are gathering for one of the biggest
freebies on the planet, the so-called "World Economic Forum" (WEF).
From January 25th to 30th 2001, the 30th WEF will take place in Davos in
the Swiss Alps. The WEF was founded in 1971 by Swiss-based German
entrepreneur and academic Dr Klaus Schwab. Two thousand specially invited
"global leaders" - senior politicians and the Chief Executives of large
companies - will attend. Some of the CEOs will also meet in secretive
`Governors' Groups' to discuss their common interests. The WEF offers
multinational companies an unparalleled chance to lobby decision-makers
from around the world.
This year in Davos, Switzerland, Friends of the Earth International (FoEI)
and other campaign groups will again expose the WEF to public scrutiny.
Tony Juniper of the FoEI said:
"Business leaders go to Davos to set out their agenda for neo-liberal
economic globalisation . Friends of the Earth is going to expose their
unaccountable dealings. We will also be planning how to change the course
of the global economy towards a sustainable future. The WEF fat cats might
have the wealth and the ears of the powerful. But we have public sympathy
and justice on our side."
FoEI will be taking part in alternative discussions at Davos, to help plan
the next phase of resistance to the globalisation agenda.
Campaigns in which FoEI is involved have already helped stop the World
Trade Organisation talks in Seattle, and destroy the international standing
of biotechnology firms such as Monsanto.
The Davos meeting coincides with a major meeting of Southern NGOs and
campaigners, including FoE groups, in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Here
discussions will be held on how developing countries can resist pressure
from international financial institutions and multinational companies to
impose damaging economic and social policies on their populations. The
Porto Alegre meeting (the World Social Forum) will feature live web-casts,
available in Davos.
At the end of the Davos meeting, FoEI and other NGOs will be announcing the
next steps in their globalisation campaign, and new Government and
multi-national targets.
Key Alternative Davos Events
* Press briefing at 11am on January 25th. Venue: Dutch Asthmas Clinic,
Scalettastrasse 19, Davos. A Joint NGO statement on the WEF will be issued.
* Live web-casts from the open and participative World Social Forum in
Porto Alegre, Brazil - attended by thousands of southern NGOs.
* Expert panels and debates which challenge the agenda and assumptions of
the WEF - on a range of topics from trade economics to corporate
accountability.
* Visual demonstrations of the failings of the WEF and globalisation,
including interventions by a trio of `World-Eating Fatcats'.
* The launch of new information resources to help citizens learn about the
impacts of globalisation. Friends of the Earth International will be
publishing `Towards Sustainable Economies - alternatives to neo-liberal
economic globalisation', and launching a new Citizen's web-guide to Trade,
Environment and Sustainability.
Contacts:
Ian Willmore (FoE Press, London) +44-20-7566 1649
Tony Juniper (FoEI, Davos) +44-771-284 3207 (mobile)
Duncan McLaren (FoEI, Davos) +44-7941-920 469 (mobile)
Background Information
The World Economic Forum is a association of the biggest and most
influential transnational corporations worldwide. At its Annual Meeting,
the WEF members meet representatives of governments and international
organisations in a private context. More than 90% of the WEF participants
are men, a large majority of them coming from the USA and Europe. The
private WEF meeting in Davos reinforces the interests of TNCs and increases
their influence in international politics. It includes a series of
secretive sectoral meetings of CEOs from key companies known as the
`Governors' Group'.
As usual, the WEF is very optimistic: "By almost any measure, the world
economy has never been stronger" they say and hope that we are now entering
"a period of unprecedented opportunity". The motto of the annual meeting
2001 is: "Bridging the Divides: Creating a Roadmap for the Global Future"
According to the WEF, it wants to become even more "committed to improving
the state of the world" (motto of the WEF). The WEF states that "the
growing backlash against globalisation, and its various public
manifestations threaten to derail the entire process".
Participants at Davos will discuss ways to integrate civil society in
devising appropriate responses to the anxiety and alienations that some
aspects of globalisation are creating.
Friends of the Earth is a research and advocacy organisation working on
environmental issues. We support the right of citizens to peaceful and
democratic protest. We do not support violent conduct of any kind. FoEI has
groups in more than 60 countries around the world, North and South and in
every continent.
Useful Links
www.davos2001.ch/ - informative NGO website on Davos 2001
www.forumsocialmundial.org.br/ - World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil.
www.geocities.com/pwdyson/wef_orgs.htm - list of the enterprises that are
members of the WEF, with their names and countries of origin.
www.weforum.org - official homepage of the WEF.
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Circulated by the FoE Australia national liaison office, Melbourne.
Local contact: Damian Sullivan, FoE Australia trade campaigner: 0401 214 296
NGO Statement: the Public Eye on Davos
Once a year, the World Economic Forum (WEF), an association of the largest
private corporations worldwide, convenes for its annual meeting in Davos,
Switzerland. In addition to the WEF members, some of the most influential
politicians and representatives of international institutions will attend
the event.
Through its annual meeting, the WEF helps to enlarge and strengthen the
influence of the private sector on international politics. Past Forum
meetings have led to the launch of trade negotiations such as the Uruguay
Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) or the North
American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) agreements which have caused social
inequality and environmental destruction.
Across the world, opposition against economic globalization is gaining
strength. This has been evidenced by the successful protests against the
Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI) or the Millennium Round of the
World Trade Organization (WTO) in Seattle. In 2000, thousands of people
demonstrated against economic globalization in Chiang Mai, Washington,
Prague, Melbourne and Nice. They expressed their disagreement with the
dominance of the corporate driven economic policies and called for
democracy and transparency in international economic decision-making.
Launched in 2000, the Public Eye on Davos will be present in Davos for the
second time. This joint campaign of several non-governmental organizations
(NGO) remonstrates against the influence which the private sector exerts on
international policies, and warns of its negative impact on the
safeguarding of human rights, social equity, democracy and the environment.
The Public Eye on Davos calls for the implemention of the following basic
rules by governments, international organizations and the private sector:
Concerning Global Governance:
* All governance structures on the national and international level must be
based on transparent, accountable and democratic principles. Discussions
and decisions which are relevant to the public at large should be held in
fora which abide by these principles.
Concerning Corporate Control:
* An intergovernmental agreement should impose high standards of
transparency and accountability on companies through binding rules.
Companies must be required to disclose the social and environmental impacts
of their activities in order to meet the needs of stakeholders - such as
local communities, customers and ethical investors - for fair, accurate and
relevant information. All stakeholders of companies - including local
communities and employees - should be granted legal rights to challenge the
activities of companies that threaten their interests. Such an agreement
should be enforced by national legislation and backed by international law.
* International anti-trust law should be agreed in order to control
anti-competitive merger activity across, as well as within, countries.
* National and international tax laws must be tightened to ensure that
corporations pay fair taxes in all those countries in which they operate.
* Corporations which commit criminal offences must be open to prosecution
at both national and international levels.
* All these measures must be backed by strong and effective sanctions,
which might include expulsion from a particular national market, jail
sentences for accountable directors, suspension of stock-market listings,
removal of corporate charters or withdrawal of financial privileges such as
access to Government subsidies and export credits.
Concerning International Financial Relations:
* There should be no further liberalization of the international financial
system and no pressure for liberalization on the national level.
Specifically, the proposed amendment of the IMF articles of agreement,
according to which the IMF would receive the right to enforce capital
account liberalizations in its member states, should not go ahead.
* Short-term financial flows should be taxed and regulated in order to
prevent further speculative attacks on national currencies.
* The multilateral development banks, the official export credit agencies
and the private banks should adopt binding policies in order to ensure that
their projects comply with international environmental, labour and human
rights standards. Governments should establish an overall framework for
such standards, e.g. as part of the Rio + 10 process.
* International financial institutions should be democratized and should be
made more accountable to all stakeholders.
Concerning International Trade Policies:
* Any trade agreements must respect international environmental and human
rights standards.
* No further trade liberalization measures should be carried pending an
independent investigation into the impacts of existing WTO agreements on
human rights, social equity and the environment. Such an examination should
have a special focus on the impact of international trade agreements on the
poor, especially women, children and indigenous peoples.
* No pressure should be put on poorer countries to open their markets, be
it by multilateral institutions or by bilateral agreements.
* The patenting of all living-forms, micro-organisms, plants, animals,
including all their parts, whether they are genes, gene sequences, cells,
cell lines, proteins or seeds, must not be allowed. As long as economic
policies are shaped in private elite gatherings like the annual meeting of
the World Economic Forum, the Public Eye will be on Davos.
The Public Eye on Davos is a joint project of the Berne Declaration
(coordination), the South American Network "Asociacian Lationamericana de
Organizaciones de Promocian" (ALOP), Focus on the Global South, Friends of
the Earth International (and its Swiss affiliate Pro Natura), Genetic
Resources Action International (GRAIN), the Tebtebba Foundation, the World
Development Movement and the Network Women in Development Europe (WIDE).
*******************************************
Jolanda Piniel
Berne Declaration
Coordination "The Public Eye on Davos"
e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Tel. +41 1 277 70 06
Fax. +41 1 277 70 01
website: www.davos2001.ch; www.evb.ch
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