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From: Bob Olsen <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Wed, 10 Dec 1997 18:10:18 -0500
Subject: Health & Gobalization
To: [log in to unmask]
This is a forwarded message. For more information, contact
the
author of this message: [log in to unmask] (Karen Spiess)
Good luck, Bob Olsen, Toronto....................
Date: Wed, 10 Dec 1997 11:35:33 -0500
To: [log in to unmask]
From: [log in to unmask] (Karen Spiess)
Subject: CPHA Resolution #16
Mr. Olsen,
As requested, the following is a copy of the 1997 CPHA
Resolution #16,
Promoting Health in an Era of Global Free Trade.
CANADIAN PUBLIC HEALTH ASSOCIATION July 9, 1997.
1997 RESOLUTION NO.16: PROMOTING HEALTH IN AN ERA OF GLOBAL
FREE TRADE
WHEREAS a healthy and prosperous society is one in which
wealth is
produced in an ecologically sustainable manner, and
equitably
distributed among its citizens,
WHEREAS free trade agreements have diminished the prospects
of
widespread health and prosperity in several ways: by
concentrating the
accumulation of capital and power in the hands of fewer
individuals and
transnational corporations;1-3 by fostering increased
resource
consumption and further stressing the environment;4 and by
diminishing
the ability of national governments to attain their social
goals as they
compete for global capital investment5 by reducing social
spending,
forcing wage rates downwards, weakening environmental and
labour
legislation, and relying on regressive consumption taxes,6
WHEREAS, if national governments are to regain their
ability to finance
redistributive social programs and protect environments7
there will have
to be international regulatory mechanisms for exerting some
control over
transnational capital flow and capital accumulation,
WHEREAS, although the World Trade Organization (WTO) has
enforcement
mechanisms to discipline signatory nations that fail to
abide by
liberalized trade agreements, the United Nations agencies
that oversee
"social clause" charters such as those concerning
protection of the
environment, the rights of the child, and the international
labour code,
must rely on moral suasion to influence signatory nations
to build such
clauses into domestic policy,
WHEREAS OXFAM and other non-governmental organizations have
launched a
campaign to include social clauses in WTO trade agreements,
in order to
use the enforcement mechanisms of the WTO to regulate
global capital for
human welfare improvement and environmental protection8,
WHEREAS the Canadian Public Health Association is committed
to
advocating policies that will enhance the social, economic
and
environmental conditions affecting the health of Canadians
and the
global community,
WHEREAS the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD)
is currently developing a Multilateral Agreement on
Investment (MAI)
that will constrain governments' ability to regulate
investment to
achieve and protect citizens' social, economic,
environmental, health
and other national interests,
WHEREAS presentation of the MAI to OECD member states for
ratification
can be expected in the very near future, and
WHEREAS adoption of the MAI by OECD member states would
significantly
undercut the campaign to incorporate social clauses within
the World
Trade Organization trade agreements and would work contrary
to the
CPHA's national and international commitment and support
for public
participation, empowerment, and the principles of healthy
public policy,
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Canadian Public Health
Association
endorse the campaign to incorporate social clauses within
the World
Trade Organization (WTO) trade agreements,
AND FURTHER BE IT RESOLVED THAT the CPHA communicate with
public health
and other public interest organizations nationally and
internationally,
and particularly those organizations in economically
developing
countries, to convey our concerns and intentions with
respect to this
issue, and to participate with these organizations in the
creation of a
networked global health lobby for the social clause
campaign,
AND FURTHER BE IT RESOLVED THAT the CPHA meet with members
of the
Canadian trade delegation to the WTO to inform them of this
resolution
and to establish a dialogue with the delegation,
AND FURTHER BE IT RESOLVED THAT the CPHA strike and provide
the
resources for a working group to prepare a position paper
that analyses
the international policy mechanisms needed to ensure that
the results of
the social clause inclusion in WTO trade agreements will
meet the policy
goals of equity, ecological sustainability, and
empowerment,
AND FURTHER BE IT RESOLVED THAT the mechanisms articulated
in the
position paper be advocated for support by the Canadian
trade delegation
at the 1998 WTO governing conference,
AND FURTHER BE IT RESOLVED THAT the CPHA bring these
concerns to the
attention of the World Health Organization (WHO) and seek
to have them
addressed by the Executive Board of WHO and at the next
World Health
Assembly,
AND FURTHER BE IT RESOLVED THAT the CPHA expand its work in
relation to
the incorporation of social clauses in the WTO trade
agreements to
include monitoring of the progress of Multilateral
Agreement on
Investment (MAI) and the position of the Government of
Canada, and
inclusion of an analysis of the MAI and other multilateral
investment
agreements within its action plan for CPHA.
Approved by the members of the Canadian Public Health
Association at
the Annual General Meeting in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on July
9, 1997.
REFERENCES:
1. OXFAM. "World Trade Organization: OXFAM Policy Briefing
for the WTO
Ministerial Conference"
http://www.eleves.ens.fr:8080/home/boyd/wto.html.
2. Voluntary Services Overseas. "Free Trade: For Whom?".
http://www.eleves.ens.fr:8080/home/boyd/wto.html.
3. Burbach, R., Nunez, O. and Kagarlitsky, B.
Globalization and its
Discontents. London: Polity Press, 1997.
4. Canadian Public Health Association. Human and Ecosystem
Health.
Ottawa: CPHA, 1992.
5. Bergsten, C. Fred. Competitive Liberalization and
Global Free
Trade: A Vision for the Early 21st Century.
APEC Working Paper 96-15, 1996.
6. Courchene, T. and Stewart, A. Financing social policy:
observations and challenges. In Hunsley, T. (ed)
Social Policy
in the Global Economy. Kingston: Queen's University
Press, 1992.
7. Pierson, C. Beyond the Welfare State? London: Polity
Press, 1994.
8. OXFAM, 1996.
Karen Spiess e-mail address: [log in to unmask]
Assistant to the Assistant Executive Director
Canadian Public Health Association
1565 Carling Avenue, Suite 400
Ottawa, Ontario K1Z 8R1
Tel: (613)725-3769 ext. 183 Fax: (613)725-9826
Web Site: www.cpha.ca
................................................
***************************************************
From new transmitters came the old stupidities.
Wisdom was passed on from mouth to mouth.
-Bertolt Brecht
***************************************************
Dennis Raphael, Ph.D.
Associate Professor and Acting Director,
Masters of Health Science Program in Health Promotion
Department of Public Health Sciences
Graduate Department of Community Health
University of Toronto
McMurrich Building, Room 101
Toronto, Ontario, CANADA M5S 1A8
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