MUNIK V

30/1/2014

Topic Brief -WTO Maintaining fairness and justice in trade

The world has become a global village and the geographical boundries have rather diminshed. International trade has increased in the recent years and is still rising, however, this increase in trade globally has its drawbacks as well. Among the major concerns is devising and implementing a system of fairness and justice in carying out the trade among different countries. Nevertheless, there is a division between different countries based on their economic condition, geographical location, the geo-political alliance etc. Therefore a framework has to be formulated taking into consideration the above factors in order to maintain fairness when conducting international trade.

Numerous key players are faced directly or indirectly with this challenge and it has become a major concern for developed and under developed countries alike to implement fairness and justice policies.

Consensus building requires comprehensive debate examining numerous avenues of the given conflict. Crucial aspects to the challenges noted below must be scrutinized keeping in mind recent developments, relevance and impact of each on reaching a solution
Developing & Developed countries

Internal Chamber of commerce( State chamber, city chamber etc) Trade associations Labor unions Ministry of trade

External IMF WTO OECD Aid agencies (Oxfam, ICRC, UNICEF) Rights Groups(HRW, Amnesty, SOHR)

Procedural Justice ( fairness in the decision making by the WTO) Fair representation Fair treatment Balance of rights among the members of WTO. Economic clout. The role of SMEs and trade Global governance enhancement ( technology transfer etc) Speculation and commodity price hikes in relation to the international trade. Current and anticipated protectionist barriers to FDI and its impact on the business trade. Providing greater coherence between trade and competition policies especially in times of economic crisis. (Trade liberalization, dealing with protectionist pressures.) Human rights and labor laws

Sources Warwick Commission : Five challenges facing WTO Chapter 3: Making the WTO deliver more for its weaker members Chapter 2: Purpose, boundaries and decision making Global Problems Global Solutions: Public Forum 2009 (Section V, GG,HH,II,JJ) WTO Dispute Settlement