Human Rights First
For the past sixty years, since the end of World War II, the governments of the world have been methodically constructing two separate, parallel, and competing systems of global rules. One set of rules aims to regulate global economic activity, through international economic agreements such as the WTO, NAFTA, the proposed FTAA and a host of bilateral and multilateral trade agreements. The second set of global rules aims to guarantee essential human rights - economic rights, political rights, social and cultural rights. These are included in The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights, and other international accords.
However, these two sets of global rules are increasingly in conflict. The World Bank and IMF commands a country to privatize a basic resource such as water or health care and that privatization violates the poor's access to those essential rights. When global economic rules are in conflict with global human rights laws, which one prevails?
The Democracy Center, in collaboration with human rights and social justice groups around the world, is assembling a campaign we call Human Rights First. This will be a campaign to insert provisions into international trade agreements and the charters of international financial institutions declaring them each subservient to international human rights accords.
As this campaign develops so will information about it on this site, along with opportunities to help. To get involved or for more information, contact The Democracy Center.