The Guardian (London) | August 14, 2001 | BY Charlotte Denny
Mike Moore, the head of the World Trade Organisation, has told development lobby groups planning to attend its meeting in Qatar in November they will only be able to send one representative each.
British charities such as Oxfam and Christian Aid usually have a dozen or more observers at international summits, but the WTO says with a shortage of hotel rooms in Doha and more outside groups interested in trade issues, it has been forced to restrict numbers.
In a letter to NGOs sent out last week, Mr Moore said nearly 650 non-governmental organisations had applied to go to Qatar. The high level of civil society interest in the Doha meeting is gratifying but has left us with a very difficult choice, either to limit the number of NGOs attending or limit the number of representatives per organisation.'
The NGOs believe the WTO has failed to take a tough line with its member governments on the size of their delegations and as a result civil society representatives will be excluded.
It's incredibly disappointing because the WTO has been making lots of noises about transparency, but at the crucial meeting it hasn't come up with the goods,' said Duncan Green, a senior policy adviser at Cafod, the Catholic aid agency. The unfortunate thing about this decision is that it strengthens the views of the sceptics, who say the WTO isn't interested in listening to its critics.'
Activists planning to protest in Doha against the WTO's goal of launching a new round of global trade talks were served a warning yesterday by the Qatari government which said it would take a hard line with disruptive demonstrations.
We won't prevent anybody from staging a peaceful protest, but we will not allow any individual or group to disrupt the meeting,' said Sheikh Hamad bin Faisal al-Thani, chairman of the organising committee for the November 9-13 meeting. A few places will be specified where NGOs can hold peaceful demonstrations.'
Abouty 4,500 people, including trade ministers from 142 countries, are likely to attend the meeting. The WTO's last round of talks in 1999 in Seattle was disrupted by mass protests which descended into battles with riot police.The Guardian (London):
