Report
from Seattle
During the World Trade Organization (WTO) ministerial week, FPIF
cosponsored “Environment and Health Day” on November 29th, with
a dozen other NGOs, including Doctors Without Borders, Earthjustice Legal
Defense Fund and Public Citizen. Ten workshops were scheduled around the
central pledge to “make trade clean, green and fair” and included
a public forum, “International Investment Rules and the Environment,”
moderated by IRC communications director Tim McGivern. Public response was
lively enough to extend the workshop 20 minutes beyond its scheduled conclusion
so panelists could field additional questions.
On December 2, FPIF hosted a public debate over China’s accession
to the WTO. The panel offered economic, environmental, and human rights
perspectives in both support and opposition to China’s pending acceptance.
The panel was comprised of trade experts from the Economic Policy Institute,
Friends of the Earth, Food First, and Human Rights Watch. The event was
moderated by FPIF codirector Tom Barry.
Beyond Seattle
Our work on trade issues continues to foster electronic discussion and
debate. “What’s This Organization?” (WTO) features a series
of briefs, excerpts from the Progressive Response, and an annotated
glossary of terms about the WTO. Visit us on the web for complete details:
http://www.foreignpolicy-infocus.org/wto.html
Our project continues to collaborate with a diverse group of advocacy,
think tank, and religious organizations to provide timely foreign policy
analysis to their constituencies.
Center for Defense Alternatives, a project of the Commonwealth Institute,
distributed “Military Strategy Under Review,” FPIF brief vol.
4, no.3, at the Academy for Arts and Sciences during a conference in November
that focused on post-cold war security policy. Church Women United (CWU)
distributed “Trafficking in Women,” FPIF brief vol.
3, no. 30, to over 50 members at their board meeting. The brief is
being used as background information in CWU’s campaign to have an
international resolution passed.
A series of briefing papers addressing the World Bank, International
Monetary Fund, and the WTO were circulated at a conference on globalization
sponsored by Pax Christi in September. Center for Defense Information
circulated “The Use of Child Soldiers,” FPIF brief vol.
4, no. 27, as part of their effort to gain an international convention
to abolish the use of child soldiers around the world.
Foreign Policy In Focus website: http://www.foreignpolicy-infocus.org/
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BIOS Publications
BIOS publications were among the materials presented by Mexican human
rights activists working with the Centro de Estudios Fronterizos y Promoción
de Derechos Humanos (Center for Border Studies and Defense of Human Rights)
to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson,
in a meeting during Robinson’s visit to Tijuana in late November
1999. Following her visit, Robinson stated that she was concerned about
migrant deaths associated with U.S. immigration policies and plans to
take the matter up with Washington.
In upcoming issues of borderlines, we’ll be working with
John Henneberger at the Texas/Border Low Income Housing Coalition on an
issue that looks at the state of the housing market in the borderlands.
We’re also collaborating with the Texas Center for Policy Studies
and the Comisión de Solidaridad y Defensa de Derechos Humanos (COSYDDHAC)
in Chihuahua on forestry and logging issues in northern Mexico and Sierra
Tarahumara. The year 2000 will see presidential elections in both the
U.S. and Mexico, so we are also planning election year coverage that will
look at their impacts on U.S.-Mexican relations and borderlands cooperation.
BIOS Website
The BIOS project also continues to expand the in-house library of materials
on U.S.-Mexico border issues. In the last two months, we’ve added
nearly 300 new documents to the BIOS Bibliographic Database. The database
is currently searchable online, and we will soon be adding abstracts for
each document. Since the database went online, we have received more requests
for documents in the collection, and we continue to encourage people to
ask us about materials we have in-house. Our next major project is to
add full-text documents and statistical information to the BIOS website
in order to improve their accessibility.
The website is always a work in process but we’ve done some extensive
redesign and upgrades in the last two months. We continue to add contacts
for border groups, organizations, and individuals, update our calendar
of border-related events, and add links to websites important to people
doing research and analysis of border issues. Go to the BIOS site often,
and if you have suggestions or comments on the website, feedback on improving
online search capabilities, notices to include in the calendar of events,
or recommendations for contacts or weblinks to include, please email us
at bios@irc-online.org.
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