December 9, 2005

GENEVA – The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) will be monitoring negotiations among the World Trade Organization (WTO) members during the WTO Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong, China, 13-18 December 2005.

The LWF will be represented by a staff person of the Office for International Affairs and Human Rights (OIAHR), which has been monitoring WTO events for several months now. The objective of the LWF's presence in the WTO process is to keep the LWF constituency informed of the ongoing negotiations that may have direct impacts on human development around the world.

A resolution of the July 2003 LWF Tenth Assembly mandated the LWF to "advocate for trade and development policies, which uphold the objective of enhancing human well-being." The LWF has also been a longstanding and active member of the Geneva-based Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance "Trade for People" global campaign.

Among the many issues of concern regarding the agenda of the WTO negotiations, the LWF is focusing on three issues-agriculture and subsidies, trade in services, and trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights [TRIPS] and public health.

While these WTO issues have emerged as the most relevant for LWF member churches and field programs of the Department for World Service, they also carry specific implications for human rights. A paper on these subjects is available on the LWF Web site at: http://www.lwf-humanrights.org/lwf-and-the-wto.php.

In the context of the WTO Ministerial Conference, LWF/OIAHR will be gathering and analyzing information on the trade negotiations themselves, and participating in parallel events organized by civil society organizations including church-related bodies from all over the world on issues such as trade and human rights, globalization and economic justice, food security, and access to health.

The ministerial conference is WTO's highest decision-making body, bringing together trade ministers of member nations every two years, to debate the implementation of the present international trade agreements. This sixth conference will be crucial in enabling the Doha Development Agenda negotiations (agreed at the 2001 meeting in Doha, Qatar) move forward sufficiently to conclude the round in 2006.

LWF OIAHR will provide updates of the evolution of these negotiations directly from Hong Kong at: http://www.lwf-humanrights.org/lwf-and-the-wto.php.

Lutheran World Information