Attempts by the United States Administration to force Europe to accept GM food and crops received a serious blow after Egypt announced that it would not be part of a WTO challenge to the European Union's de facto moratorium on approving new GM licenses. The Egyptian Government says that it has taken its decision because it recognises " the need to preserve adequate and effective consumer and environmental protection."

The offices of Freedom FM, a Douala-based private radio station, were surrounded by police officers on 23 May 2003 after Communications Minister Jacques Fame Ndongo ordered the station's closure, accusing it of operating illegally. Prior to the police action, the station had been expected to launch on 24 May.

Environmental activists blocked the entrance to Exxon Mobil's headquarters and climbed onto the roof to protest what they said was the oil company's inaction against global warming. Police said 36 people were arrested Tuesday and would be charged with criminal trespassing. The protesters from the environmental group Greenpeace used an extension ladder to reach the roof. More protesters dressed in tiger costumes — Exxon has long used a tiger as its advertising symbol — were caught at the bottom of the ladder.

"If Hollywood makes money, if Bollywood makes money, then why can't we, in Africa?" asked the head of Ghana's biggest film firm, Robert Kofi Nyantakyi of Gama Film Company. The script the African film moguls are trying to write at the Cannes film festival this week could be called Desperately Seeking A Voice For Africa. "We have so many stories to tell" said Nyantakyi, whose country is a pioneer of West African cinema. But with few funds and a wide technology gap to overcome, Africa's chances of producing films featuring its own cultures and concerns appear doomed to failure unless national industries band together to break down borders.

Reporters sans frontières (RSF) has expressed concern about the recent measures taken by the National Communications Council (Conseil national de la Communication, CNC) against four private media outlets. During the week of 16 May 2003, the CNC decided to suspend the publication of two private newspapers, "Misamu" and "Le Temps". In addition, the publications "Jeunesse Action" and "l'Espoir" received official warnings from the council.

President Bush is preparing to bury a radical French plan which would help some of the world's poorest farmers by ending the dumping of subsidised western food in Africa. A war of words over the plight of the world's poorest continent has erupted after European officials accused the US of blocking the ban on export subsidies. In a separate attack, Mr Bush blamed European opposition to GM foods for causing hunger in Africa.

In its latest bid to suppress any discussion of the rights of indigenous peoples, the government of Botswana has banned Survival International's human rights education pack from the country's schools. The Gana and Gwi 'Bushmen' and their neighbours the Bakgalagadi were evicted from their land in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve in 2002, and forced to live in grim resettlement camps.

There is widespread concern that citizens are being sidelined from having a say in decisions about their welfare taken by inter-governmental organisations (IGOs). This has recently led to new mechanisms apparently aimed at solving the problem. These measures have focused primarily on the role of civil society organisations (CSO’s), but have ignored the role of parliamentarians. Parliamentarians – unlike CSO’s – are democratically elected. As elected representatives they should have responsibilities for holding global decision makers to account.

So why are parliamentarians excluded? There are a number of reasons, including the startling rules of some IGO’s that prohibit parliamentarians from influencing decision-making. However, the main reason is the reluctance of member states to share power with parliamentarians. Things are changing, however, as parliamentarians from around the world are beginning to demand greater power.

What has become known as the “democratic deficit” was analysed a couple of years ago by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) itself, whose then head Mike Moore noted: "If the WTO is to succeed it must reinforce its democratic credentials.” Mr Moore was responding to what he stated was “a very real feeling amongst many people that decisions which are having a fundamental impact upon their lives are being devised behind closed doors."

Unfortunately, the problem was and is not unique to the WTO. Nearly all IGOs operating on the global sphere are suffering from a “democratic deficit”. The problem stems from a disconnect between decisions taken at the global level which impact upon local communities and the power of local communities to hold those decision-makers to account.

The almost exclusive focus up until now on developing new mechanisms to enable global organisations to engage directly with CSOs as a means of closing this gap is undoubtedly important and in need of deepening. However, of equal, if not greater importance, due to their democratic credentials, is the need to strengthen parliamentarians’ ability to hold global organisations to account. Sidelined up until recently, work is just beginning on strengthening the power of this important and often neglected group to do this task.

Flick through the pages of any self-respecting inter-governmental organisation’s annual report and you will be overwhelmed by the amount of engagement these organisations have with civil society organisations, from formal institutional links like the World Bank’s Committee for Non-governmental Organisation’s (NGOs) or the WTO’s NGO forum to project level partnerships and policy level consultations. Seen as important articulators of the views and needs of the most marginalized, engagement with civil society organisations is fast becoming common practice.

The idea is to provide new channels to re-connect the local citizen to the global decision-maker. It is a good one, if, and it is a big if, it is meaningfully carried out and actually enables citizens to really have an impact. Unfortunately, it appears that much of it, at this point in time, is far from meaningful. Work needs to be done to deepen this form of engagement. However, this process, vital though it may be, is no substitute for more democratic means of bridging the divide.

Civil society organisations, though often incredibly well informed and articulate, do not formally represent local communities. Only parliamentarians are democratically elected to represent their constituencies and as such have unparalleled legitimacy to do so. Parliamentarians are also intimately linked with the process of passing decisions taken at the global level into national law, placing them in a position to be able to hold global decision-makers to account.

At present this potential power is hindered because IGOs do not provide good access to information to parliamentarians and informal and formal mechanisms for engagement are extremely limited, especially in comparison to the array of mechanisms available to civil society organisations. As Norbert Mao, a Ugandan MP and member of the African Parliamentary Network on the World Bank, notes, international financial institutions (IFIs) have “historically engaged with the executive branch of governments and the legislative branch has been largely left out of the relationship”. However, he adds: “It is just as important for the World Bank and other IFIs to interact with the legislative branch of governments since it represents the “voice” of the people”.

So why has there been so little engagement with this group? Well, firstly, there are legal blockages, which prevent some IFIs from certain forms of engagement. The World Bank’s articles of association, for example, astoundingly prevent Bank staff from briefing legislative bodies either verbally or in written form. Secondly, parliamentarians have also, until recently, not been as vocal as civil society organisations in demanding a seat at the table. High profile public campaigning by NGOs, for example, have made them a force that simply cannot be ignored. Thirdly, and most importantly, there is a reticence by the member governments to share their power and include parliamentarians in greater engagement at the global level. This appears to still be the major stumbling bloc.

Things are changing though. UK and French parliamentarians, for example, have recently made moves to demand greater accountability of their governments at the global level. The UK Parliament asked Clare Short, former Minister for International Development, to give evidence in parliament on the UK influence in the World Bank. This is the first time this has happened. The French parliament has also recently made an International Monetary Fund (IMF) request for greater money conditional on its government providing an annual account of its activities within this institution. Both initiatives highlight parliamentarians placing pressure on their member governments to provide greater disclosure of decisions taken at the global level.

As for more direct engagement between IGOs and parliamentarians, in 2000 the ‘Parliamentary Network on the World Bank’ was established as an independent organisation of key parliamentarians collaborating with the World Bank in order to increase legislative involvement in international development. The network has regional chapters and an Africa chapter was opened this year that will adopt its own regional agenda. The network is looking into how parliamentarians can be more involved in World Bank PRSP processes, amongst other things. Other global organisations are watching with interest (read the IMF) on how this relationship develops in recognition that it is no longer possible to ignore parliamentarians in global decision-making.

Much more work needs to be done to increase the ability of parliamentarians to do their job and hold global organisations to account. Both parliamentarians along with civil society organisations are important actors in bridging the disconnect between local and global decision-making. Increased disclosure of information from global organisations and greater means of participation and readdress for both of these groups is vital for the future.

* Hetty Kovach is manager of the Global Accountability Project at the One World Trust, Houses of Parliament, London.

* Send your comments on this editorial to

ABOUT THE GLOBAL ACCOUNTABILITY PROJECT:
The One World Trust’s Global Accountability Project (GAP) was started in 2000 and is a unique project assessesing the accountability of inter-governmental organisations (IGOs), transnational corporations (TNCs) and international non-governmental organisations (NGOs). At the heart of the project is a novel framework which explains what accountability means and identifies eight core organisational dimensions crucial to fostering greater accountability.

GAP has recently published its first report ‘Power Without Accountability’. The report assesses eighteen of the world’s most powerful organisations including the World Bank, the World Trade Organisation and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. The results show wide differences between the organisations, clearly indicating leaders in the field and those that fall behind. For more information about GAP and a full copy of the report please visit http://www.oneworldtrust.org

The European Union (EU) has agreed to grant Senegal 307 million (US$351 million) over a five-year period to fund development programmes and debt relief, the European Commission office in Dakar said in a statement.

How does trade impact on the environment? Why do many southern governments regard environmental protection as a low priority? Are they justified in thinking that pressures to clean up their environmental act are part of a deceitful northern trade protectionism agenda? Could the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) have benefits for the south?

Capitalism is going senile. Its ambition is now restricted to maintaining the wealth of the wealthy in the world, while the poor, condemned to remain out of the loop, are increasingly demonised as the enemy. This is the theme of Samir Amin's major new book, in which the celebrated analyst presents a synoptic view of capitalism's future. He depicts a world in which NATO has taken over the role of the United Nations, in which US hegemony is more or less complete, in which millions are condemned to die in order to preserve the social order of the US, Europe and Japan.

The broad trends are international: the crisis in farming is global. In poorer countries the situation is even worse. Half of the world's people still make their living from the land - and it is they who feed the majority of the world's poorest people. In South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa more than 70 per cent of the population makes a living from the land. Agriculture counts, on average, for half of total economic activity. Why is the crisis happening? Somebody, somewhere, must be benefiting. The answer is not hard to discover. It lies not in the soil, but inside the corporations which have become known collectively as 'agribusiness'.

Policies are implemented within an institutional setting that dictates the distribution of costs and benefits. Among the challenges that we face today is the need to create a set of policy and legal instruments that will reconstruct the gender-biased institutional setting within which globalisation currently operates. The markets have generated a structure of incentives that encourages women to undertake productive activities. But we know of hardly any incentives to encourage men to take over caring responsibilities. The result is that social reproduction is being moved out of the households and into the privatised market sphere in what appears to be a move out of the frying pan and into the fire, says this paper from Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN).

The view that developing countries would need to embrace trade liberalisation as a means out of poverty was "wrong and misguided". Zambia and Ghana were both examples of countries in which the opening up of markets has led to sudden falls in rates of growth with sectors being unable to compete with foreign goods. Even in those countries that have experienced overall economic growth as a result of trade liberalisation, poverty has not necessarily been reduced. This is not the message of any anti-globalisation think-tank, but that of former United Kingdom trade and industry secretary Stephen Byers.

Ten years ago, in an attempt to improve its understanding of investment decisions in developing countries, the World Bank undertook a survey of 80 mining companies. The survey revealed that the main investment criteria, after mineral potential and existing infrastructure, was a satisfactory legal and fiscal framework. This message was enthusiastically embraced across Africa, and legal reform of the mining sector contributed to a more favourable environment for foreign investment. However, a recent study by Groupe de Recherche sur les Activités Minières en Afrique (GRAMA) at the Faculté de Science Politique et de Droit, Université du Québec à Montréal, concludes that these measures have entailed a redefinition of the role of the state that is so profound that it has no historical precedent. The study warns that the various reforms have the potential effect of driving down standards in areas of critical importance for social and economic development, as well as in protection of the environment in the countries concerned.

New research from Christian Aid - along with important studies from some of the world's leading development specialists, and research by both the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund - indicates that poor countries dependent on oil revenues have a higher incidence of four great and interconnected ills. Oil, in these conditions, becomes the key ingredient in a 'lethal cocktail' of greater poverty for the vast majority of the population, increased corruption, a greater likelihood of war or civil strife, and dictatorial or unrepresentative government.

If there's one phrase I could do with hearing less of during 2002, it's "civil society". I'm not alone. Many of my friends, community activists and organisers in a number of countries also cringe at the ritualized, ubiquitous usage of the phrase. We shudder at the thought that we might be mistaken for being part of it. Civil society is a construct which allows politically and economically powerful institutions to decide who is in, and who is out, when and if it suits their interests. Furthermore, it has the added value of sounding broad and inclusive enough to add a gloss of legitimacy to any institution, programme, or system which can be shown to the public as somehow engaging with civil society, whoever that is.

Deforesting the Earth makes clear that forests are not eliminated by mere logging but overwhelmingly by clearing for agriculture. Forests cut for wood production, no matter how abusively, usually grow back--even if often quite altered in composition. So the story of deforestation is also the story of the development of farming systems, and it is fundamentally driven by growth in human numbers. But that growth itself is tied to the development of a global industrial economy, in which extraction of wood products has played a critical part.

On May 13th, senior officials of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank and World Trade Organisation (WTO) will meet in Geneva ostensibly to promote greater "coherence" amongst their policies. There are good reasons to be concerned. Over the past decades, the IMF and the World Bank have systematically promoted controversial policy reforms in developing countries. Typically these include liberalization of trade and financial flows, deregulation, privatization and budget austerity. Strategies for this purpose have required many developing countries to break with past policies and to pursue closer and faster integration into the world economy. As a result, the economies of developing countries have been characterized by slow and erratic growth, increased instability, and rising income gaps.
Related Link:
* IFI's Join Forces
http://ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=18139

From the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and the United Nations, to Interpol and the World Health Organisation (WHO), dozens of international agencies now work to regulate world trade, telecommunications, transportation, labour, business, health and the environment, among other issues. In almost all of those bodies, poor and powerless nations, like Somalia and Afghanistan, are under-represented while the rich and powerful, like Britain and the United States, operate with almost unchecked authority and overwhelming power. Some non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are impatient to see real change.