STWR - Share The World's Resources

Behind the currency wars and the worsening global economic crisis lies a largely unquestioned free trade model that, without radical reform, is a major obstacle to a sustainable recovery. International trade should be based on cooperation, not competition, argues Myriam vander Stichele.

The West African cotton industry is blocked by a wall of free cash dished out by the United States and European Union to their farmers, robbing 10 million West African farmers of $250m as price-fixing benefits rich countries over poor nations. A report by the Fairtrade Foundation.

There is considerable evidence that the free trade agreements pursued by the European Union with Colombia and Peru may exacerbate human rights abuses and inequality in the region, says a report by the Transnational Institute and the Center for Research and Documentation Chile-Latin America.

Without genuine reform of both governance and policy recommendations, the International Monetary Fund’s expanded crisis role may actually keep low-income countries from recovering, push them into greater debt, and hinder long-term development, says a report by Jubilee USA.

Since 1990, financing to the private sector by multilateral development banks has increased ten-fold. Without radical reform of the current lending approach, such an expansion could do more harm than good, says a new report by Eurodad et al.

Over the last fifteen years, the World Bank and the IMF have responded to calls for reform on paper but not in practice. It is time to end the market-oriented bias that guides the Bretton Woods Institutions once and for all, says a report by the Halifax Initiative.

Mexico’s experience with NAFTA underscores the need to reform international trade agreements. Governments must shape new policies that respect the right to development and protect the environment, says a report by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.