 | | Palestinian NGO's Barred From Participating in the WTO Ministerial Conference The Sixth WTO Ministerial Conference will be held in Hong Kong, China, 13?18 December 2005.The conference will be held by the ministers of the member-countries in the WTO, and will discuss various international economic issues. Despite the fact that hundreds of NGOs from around the world are qualified to attend the conference, not a single Palestinian NGO was allowed to participate. |
The provisional list of participants includes the ministers of 148 WTO members, and 41 countries with observer status. The Palestinian Authority, not being an independent state, is prevented from sending its own delegation. This despite the fact that Palestinians are deeply affected by issues of world trade. Israel imposes a customs union with the Palestinians through the application of the Paris Accords, signed in 1994. The Palestinians are still obligated to the customs-union, even though Israel has broken its part of the agreement by preventing Palestinian workers from working inside Israel. As a result of the customs-union, every obligation that Israel takes upon itself also applies to the unrepresented Palestinians. Every change in customs or tariffs directly affects the Palestinians, who are not at liberty to determine or collect customs. Furthermore, if the Palestinian Authority contacts international companies to provide services, the contracts signed with these companies will be signed under the obligations taken by Israel for the WTO. These contracts might still be in effect when an independent Palestinian state is established. We demand that the Palestinians be allowed to send representatives to the WTO meetings and to make public their case for independent international trading and sovereign rights to sign international agreements. Furthermore, we see the Palestinian people as one of many groups who are being impoverished and exploited by the economic agenda promoted by the wealthy and developed countries in the WTO. We believe that the struggle against globalized capital and the destruction of social supports is also the interest of the Palestinian people, who are victims of this new world order of Capitalism and Militarism.
|
