Trade ministers at WTO meeting urged to give trade a ‘human face’
The general secretary of the International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers' Federation (ITGLWF) Neil Kearney said at Doha last week that the World Trade Organisation (WTO) should recognise the social dimension of decisions they make regarding world trade. "Failure to give trade rules a social dimension will boost opposition to globalisation, fuel the growing public rejection of the WTO as the regulator of the world trading system and force workers to embrace protectionism as the only available defence of their rights", he said.
"Children across the world, some as young as four years old, are weaving carpets, stitching jeans, gluing shoes, doing every job imaginable in export industries. In many cases they will die before leaving childhood. These are the scarred faces of unregulated globalisation and trade without a social focus. They are unattractive and unacceptable. They stunt the growth of internal markets, they hinder development and they endanger security everywhere."
Mr. Kearney said that he believed the WTO should help to "give trade a human face" and tackle the problems of workers in the textile and leather sector. He joined other global union leaders in Doha in calling on the WTO to begin a debate on the relationship between trade and basic workers' rights by establishing a standing committee on the issue. This committee would combine the energies of the WTO's expertise on trade and those of the ILO on labour standards.
