Phnom Penh, April 11 – AFA members passed two declarations on WTO and the ASEAN Charter during a forum on “Asian Farmers’ Perspectives in Engaging Inter-Governmental Bodies†held at Juliana Hotel, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, last April 11.
“We are not happy at all with the results of the Sixth Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong, China. We call on our governments to stop commitments to new modalities in agriculture that are being offered in the on-going negotiations in Geneva. We ask them to review the impact of GATT-WTO-AoA to small farmers, fishers and producers before embarking on new negotiations for further liberalization of agriculture in our countries. Also, to explore alternative trading systems according to the principles of food sovereignty and food security†read the AFA declaration.
AFA called for agriculture to be taken out of WTO as it believes the rules in GATT-WTO-AoA has endangered, and in many cases, destroyed the livelihoods of millions of small farmers and agricultural workers in developing countries.
See full text of WTO declaration.
During the forum, AFA also committed to engage their respective governments and the inter-government ASEAN body as well in the making of the ASEAN Charter. AFA called on the ASEAN to ensure that the following principles are enshrined in the ASEAN Charter: equitable access to land, water and natural resources to small men and women farmers, producers, fishers and indigenous peoples; sustainable agriculture; international trading system that respects food sovereignty; and the broadest participation of the basic sectors.
See full text of the ASEAN declaration.
For the session on WTO, the following speakers gave their respective presentations: (1) Mr. Jerome Bunyi, Senior Agriculturist of the Department of Agriculture, Philippines — on the Results of MC6 and Analysis from G33; (2) Ms. Sudaporn Sittisathapornkul, AFA Vice President — on the AFA Perspective; (3) Mr. Raul Montemayor, IFAP Asia Committee — on the IFAP Perspective; (4) Mr. Achmad Yakub, La Via Campesina – on the La Via Campesina Perspective; (5) Mr. Ben Lefetey of CSA — on the Dakar Declaration; and (6) Mr. Jose Osaba of the World Rural Forum — on WTO MC6 assessments.
The session on the ASEAN, on the other hand, had the following as speakers: (1) Ms. Marlene Ramirez, AsiaDHRRA Secretary General — on the ASEAN and the Charter-building process; (2) Mr. Vic Fabe, PAKISAMA Chair — on AFA Initiatives on the ASEAN Charter; and (3) Mr. Dam Jaarsma, Agriterra — on International Perspectives.
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