EU Is Set to Urge WTO To Discuss Worker Rights
April 05, 2011
BRUSSELS -- The European Commission Wednesday will risk antagonizing Asian countries when it proposes that basic labor rights be put on the agenda of the World Trade Organization. At its weekly meeting, the commission is due to adopt a policy paper calling for next December's WTO ministerial meeting in Singapore to set up a working party to look at the link between core labor standards and trade. The working party would focus on basic standards such as the right to belong to a labor union, the prohibition of forced labor and slavery, nondiscrimination and the elimination of child labor, the commission will say. The document is to be sent to EU trade ministers for approval. The commission's view is shared by the U.S. and most EU member states, with the exception of the U.K. But developing countries, especially emerging Asian economies, are fiercely opposed to linking trade and social issues. And many business organizations argue that the WTO instead should focus on adding to the Uruguay Round trade liberalization agreement. Few Details The commission paper doesn't go into detail over how WTO trade rules should be used to promote basic labor rights. Commission officials, however, said the EU executive favors trade incentives rather than penalties. The paper, drawn up by EU Trade Commissioner Sir Leon Brittan and Social Affairs Commissioner Falls Espinoza, contends that failure to handle the issue of labor standards at the international level could lead to calls in industrialized countries for the imposition of barriers on goods produced in some developing countries. ``There is still a perception among sectors of the European public that Europe is not doing enough to bring working practices world-wide up to internationally agreed standards,'' the commission said. ``If the WTO fails to take up the challenge, there is a real danger that unilateral protectionist measures could emerge. ... These measures could, in turn serve to destabilize the progress already achieved in relation to trade liberalization,'' the commission paper says. Meetings Wednesday But the document acknowledges that developing nations don't want to link labor rights to trade. At a meeting in Jakarta earlier this week, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations agreed to oppose putting topics such as corruption and social clauses on the WTO agenda in Singapore. That message is expected to be repeated at meetings Wednesday and Thursday in Brussels between EU officials and their counterparts from Asian countries to discuss closer economic ties. For its part, the commission seeks to reassure these countries that the EU isn't trying to extend its social system to the rest of the world. ``There is no question of imposing on developing countries the higher wage levels and better working conditions which pertain in the industrialized world. Nor is this an action designed to erect new barriers to trade under cover of a social agenda,'' the policy paper says. Under its Generalized Scheme of Preferences, the EU already has the power to withdraw trade concessions from developing countries that don't prevent the use of forced labor. The commission is currently investigating the situation in Burma and has received a complaint about Pakistan.
