On Sun, 9 Feb 1997 12:22:28 -0500 Ronald Labonte
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Hello. My name is Ronald Labonte. I have worked in public health/health
> promotion for over 25 years, as an activist, practitioner, trainer,
> consultant, researcher and academic. I have always been drawn to my work
> because of its communitarian and moral dimensions. It is my experience in
> work across the English speaking world, and some forays into continental
> Europe and Latin America, that many people in public health/health promotion
> share similar value commitments. These values are now challenged, if not
> eclipsed, in many parts of the world by the ascendency of a market-driven
> neoliberal discourse. This discourse accompanies trends in global trade and
> wealth accumulation that pose significant threats to the health, well-being
> and social fabric of peoples and planet. How do we intervene to re-direct
> our body politic into one that is more consistent with the values and
> practices of public health and civic decency?
>
> I have prepared a 10 page proposal in response to that question. It argues
> for a global health NGO presence at the 2 year old World Trade Organization,
> a successor of GATT which currently enforces liberalized trade agreements.
> Several public interest NGOs are attempting to lobby the WTO and its member
> nation delegations to incorporate "social clauses" within trade agreements,
> i.e. labour, environment. One intriguing option would be to incorporate UN
> declarations and conventions (e.g. ILO on labour, Rio Summit on Agenda 21,
> Alma-Ata on Primary Health Care, Rights of the Child etc.) into trade
> agreements, using the enforcement potential of the WTO.
Ron's proposal is available on the web from:
http://www.vichealth.vic.gov.au/docs/wto.htm
Craig
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Craig Silva, Electronic Outreach Program Officer
Victorian Health Promotion Foundation, Melbourne Australia
e-mail: [log in to unmask], Tel: 61 3 9345 3211
Post: PO Box 154, Carlton Sth Victoria. 3053. Australia
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