China and the WTO Roundtable

Wednesday, September 10, 2003
3:30-5:30PM
Hotel Sierra, Cancun
Room 4

Convened by: Human Rights in China (HRIC) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)

This roundtable will examine issues presented by China’s first year implementation of WTO obligations and its impact on human rights and sustainable and equitable development. While many serious social and human rights problems in China predate China’s WTO accession, the roundtable will explore WTO-related impacts that have exacerbated these problems or created new problems. As this is China’s first WTO meeting since accession, the Fifth Ministerial is an appropriate opportunity to explore intervention strategies within the WTO framework and processes to promote more coherent trade policies that do not trump the protection of human rights in China. Some specific areas the roundtable will focus on include agriculture, human rights and business in China, labor rights and legal reforms.

Moderator: Sharon Hom, Executive Director, Human Rights in China

Participants:
Marie Guiraud, FIDH
Antoine Madelin, FIDH
Mattheo Bushehri, Professor of Law, University of Hong Kong
Stuart Clark, Senior Policy Advisor, Canadian Foodgrains Bank
Neil Kearney, International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU);
General Secretary of the International Textile, Garment and Leather
Workers' Federation (ITGLWF)
David Petrasek, Senior Director of Policy, Amnesty International

For more information, please contact Sharon Hom at Sharon.Hom@hrichina.org or Jennifer Rockwitz at Jennifer.Rockwitz@hrichina.org, or at the Calinda Beach Hotel at (998) 849 45 10.