NGO-Koalition veröffentlicht Gründungsstatement zum Public Eye on Davos

Davos has become one of the capitals of globalization. Every year, the small Swiss mountain resort hosts the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) and attracts about 2,000 corporate CEOs, leading politicians, academics and journalists. Hundreds of workshops and informal meetings provide opportunities to discuss important issues. The world's presidents and prime ministers court corporate chiefs and financiers; together they chart the global economic rules for finance, trade and development. Under the grand motto of being "committed to improving the state of the world," past Forum meetings have engendered the launch of trade negotiations such as the GATT's Uruguay Round or NAFTA. The upcoming Annual Meeting will discuss topics such as "Building the new financial architecture," "After Seattle: who wants trade liberalization?," "How many people can the earth sustain," "What's left to privatize," and "The fate of the universe."

The format of any meeting should be compatible with its goals and topics. The World Economic Forum agrees that "creating a new paradigm of governance at the national as well as international level" is a central challenge of the 21st century. Yet what is the WEF's own governance paradigm? Its members are the 1,000 largest private corporations and 1,000 so-called global growth companies. At the Annual Meetings, closed circles of business, government, academia and media elites discuss problems of global importance. The media representatives are handpicked, and some have been refused accreditation after reporting critically about the WEF. Journalists are excluded from certain secret meetings altogether. Common people have no voice in the discussions of Davos. Women are a small minority among the participants. The number of NGO representatives is growing, but still minimal too. This secretive approach is not compatible with the "highest degree of credibility, efficiency and accountability" which the WEF purports to aspire to. Symbolized by NAFTA and the Uruguay Round, the approach has rather contributed the very problems of economic marginalization, financial crisis, loss of democratic space, social exclusion and environmental destruction which the world is suffering from today.

Public affairs must be negotiated in democratic fora, in a spirit of openness and participation, with full public debate and dissent. We therefore believe that there are two choices for the World Economic Forum. If it intends to remain an exclusive club of the world's corporate elite, the representatives of governments and international organizations should not negotiate their affairs at the Forum's exclusive gatherings in Davos anymore. The failure of the Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI) and the WTO Millenium Round demonstrates that in today's world, issues of public interest cannot be negotiated behind closed doors any longer.

If on the other hand, the WEF intends to become an forum where important public concerns have a place to be debated, it must radically change its perspectives, rules and proceedings. It should put concerns such as debt cancellation, fair trade, democratic control of international institutions, stopping the abuse of human rights and discrimination against women, preventing the privatization of life forms and public goods, and changing unsustainable consumption patterns at the cetre stage of its agenda. Participation at the WEF must be expanded to include a fair balance of all social sectors, particularly the groups who have so far been marginalized by the globalization processes. The interested media should be free to attend all meetings of the Forum, and the practice of secret meetings should be discontinued. To borrow the Forum's 2000 motto, such an approach would indeed constitute a "new beginning" for Davos.

Henceforth, NGOs will be present in Davos in order to monitor the discussions of the World Economic Forum. We will press for new perspectives and more democratic space at the Forum so that the social groups who pay the price for the globalization process can speak up. The public eye is on Davos.

This statement has been endorsed by 150 NGOs from all over the world.

The Public Eye on Davos - NGO Statement has been endorsed by 150 NGOs from 39 countries

Argentina

• FOCO Foro de Consulta a la Sociedad Civil Sobre el Ajuste Estructura
• IDEMI Instituto Para el Desarrollo de la Micro y Pequeña Empresa 

Australia

• AID/WATCH
• Australian Council for Overseas Aid (ACFOA)
• Economic Reform Australia (ERA)
• Pacific BioWeb
• People's Movement
• SAGFIN (South Australian Genetic Food Information Network)
• The Australian Greens
• The Uniting Ministry with the Ageing, Uniting Church
• Urban Ecology Australia Inc.

Austria

• Center for Encounters and Active Non-violence
• PLAGE, the Salzburg Regional Coalition Against Nuclear Dangers
• Salzburg Forum against MAI/ WTO
• SOL (solidarity, ecology and lifestyle)
• Weltladen Lienz und Verein Trikont

Belgium

• Fern
• Friends of the Earth Europe
• NCOS (National Centre for Development Cooperation)
• Oxfam-Wereldwinkels

Brazil

• PACS (Instituto de Politicas Alternativas para o Cone Sul)

Cameroon

• Centre pour l'Environnement et le Développement (CED)

Canada

• Council of Canadians Vancouver Chapter
• Halifax InitiativeRAFI Rural Advancement Fund International
• WPIRG-WTO working group

Chile

• ALIANZA CHILENA (Alianza Chilena por un Comercio Justo y responsable)
• CODEPU (Corporación de Promoción y Defensa de los Derechos del Pueblo)
• RAÍCES, Santiago

Colombia

• Centro de Debate y Acción Ambiental

Costa Rica

ALOP (Asociación Latinoamericana de Organizaciones de Promoción

Cyprus

• ARC

Czech Rep

• Hnuti DUHA/Friends of Earth

Ecuador

• Cepam Guayaquil,

Finland

• Friends of the Earth

France

• Ecoropa

Germany

• GERMANWATCH
• IMBAS Initiative für die Menschenrechte aller BürgerInnen der ASEAN-Staaten
• Institute of Interdisciplinary Study and Research, Trier
• Naturschutzbund Deutschland (NABU) e.V.
• Urgewald
• WEED - World Economy, Ecology & Development Association

Ghana

• The Integrated Social Development Centre (ISODEC)

Great Britain

• Centre for Food Policy, Great Britain
• Friends of Bosavi
• Friends of the Earth England Wales and Northen Ireland
• New Economics Foundation
• PARTIZANS, London
• People & Planet
• The Corner House
• The Gaia Trust , Anderby, Skegness
• World Development Movement

Guatemala

• Tropico Verde

India

• Insaaf International
• International Group for Grassroots Initiatives
• Jai Sen
• Kalpavriksh - Environmental Action Group
• WOMEN'S CENTRE, Bombay

Indonesia

• INFID - International NGO Forum on Indonesian Development
• PAN

Italy

• Comitato Cile 98
• Cooperativa Roba dell'Altro Mondo
• Diritto in Lutto
• Donne in Nero di Bologna
• elio Basso International Foundation für the Rights and Liberation of People
• Reform the World Bank Campaign,
• Rete di Lilliput

Jamaica

• Women's Media Watch

Japan

• APEC Monitor NGO Network
• Friends of the Earth
• Global Village
• Japan CHT Committee

Kenya

• ECOTERRA Intl.

Latvia

• Green Liberty - Riga

Lithuania

• Lithuanian Green Movement

Malta

• Moviment ghall-Ambjent FoE

Mexico

• Alcadeco, A. C.,
• Red de Informacion Rural

Netherlands

• Both ENDS

Pakistan

• Development VISIONS

Peru

• Indigenous Peoples´Biodiversity Network (International)
• Instituto Bartolomer de las Casas RIMAC
• Kechua-Aymara Association for Sustainable Livelihoods, ANDES

Senegal

• Interface Trading

Slovakia

• Center for Environmental Public Advocacy
• Friends of the Earth
• Society of friends of the Earth

South Africa

• Environmental Monitoring Group

Sweden

• Fältbiologerna
• The Nordic-Latinamerican Association
• The Trees and People Forum

Switzerland

• Berne Declaration
• Blauen-Institut
• Bruno Manser Fonds
• CO-OPERAID
• Espace Femmes Internation (EFI)
• GSoA
• Incomindios
• Oekumenisches Forume EINE WELT Ost-Schweiz
• Ökumenische Gemeinde Halden
• Ökumenische Kommission für Gerechtigkeit, Frieden und Bewahrung der Schöpfung
• Pro Natura - Friends of the Earth
• RSE, Réseau pour la responsabilité sociale dans l'économie
• sci Service Civile International
• SDS Sustainable Development Services
• Swiss Coalition of Development Organizations
• Theologischen Bewegung für Solidarität und Befreiung

Thailand

• Focus on the Global South

Uruguay

• ITeM Instituto del Tercer Mundo

USA

• 50 Years Is Enough Network
• American Lands Alliance
• Anarchist Action of Rochester
• Campaign for Labor Rights
• Center of Concern
• Cumberland Countians for Peace & Justice
• Earth Justice Ministries
• Environmental Defense Fund
• Food First/Institute for Food and Development Policy, Oakland,
• Globalization Challenge Initiative
• Grassroots International
• Hiroshima-Nagasaki Commemoration Committee
• Humanitarian Law Project
• Institute for Policy Studies
• International Rivers Network
• Left Business Observer
• Lowell Center for Sustainable Production
• Medical Mission Sisters' Alliance for Justice
• MoKan Alliance for Democracy
• Network for Environmental and Economic Responsibility, United Church of Christ
• Nicaragua Network, Washington
• Organic Consumers Association
• Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch
• Rainforest Action Network
• Social & Environmental Entrepreneurs
• Southern Appalachian Biodiversity Project
• Southern Neighborhoods Network
• The Development GAP
• The Institute for Labor Studies
• U.S. Catholic Mission Association
• United Church of Christ, Network for Environmental & Economic Responsibility
• United for a Fair Economy Boston
• Washington Biotechnology Action Council
• Women, Food and Agriculture Network
• World Economy Project, Preamble Center
• WQM
• Asia Indigenous Women's Network
• Friends of the Earth Middle East
• Tebtebba (Indigenous Peoples' international Centre for Policy Research and Education)
• The Alliance for Democracy
• George J. Aditjondro, M.S. (Cornell), Ph.D. (Cornell)
• Bill Blaikie, MP, International Trade Critic - New Democratic Party of Canada
• Bradley, Janina
• Anna Galliolo e Ercole Ongaro
• Ester Aída S. de Jaraz
• Lee Rhiannon, Greens member of the NSW Legislative Council
• Peter Dale Scott, Author, Professor of English Emeritus