"Make trade fair" petition hits 1 million mark

Idea exchange
September 2003

'Make trade fair' petition hits 1 million mark
Say a little prayer for trade justice

"Make trade fair" petition hits 1 million mark
Archbishop Desmond Tutu added the millionth name to Oxfam's global petition to make trade fair in August. The international agency, Oxfam, is calling for a change to world trade rules that are currently rigged against the poor. Archbishop Tutu is one of the many influential figures to have put his voice to the petition, known as the 'Big Noise.'

"Trade has the potential to lift millions of poor people around the world out of poverty but currently it is doing the opposite. While the rich get richer, the poor are getting poorer. More than half the population of Africa live on less than a dollar a day," said Tutu.

As leaders of the Group of Eight richest countries meet in Evian for the annual G8 summit, Tutu is calling on them to use their power to change trade rules. "I appeal to world leaders who are meeting at the G8 conference in Evian to make trade fair," said Tutu. "They must stop protecting their markets and allow poor countries to benefit, rather than be punished by unfair trade."

Oxfam's petition was launched in April 2002 as part of a broad-ranging campaign to make trade fair. Among the first million people to sign up to the petition are his Holiness the Dalai Lama, musicians Chris Martin and Bono, the UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, and hundreds of thousands of people from more than 200 countries who are committed to fighting for a fairer world.

Adrian Lovett, Oxfam's Campaign Director, said, "Those who make the rules of trade sometimes pretend that their issues are too complex for the rest of us to understand. From the small towns of America to the great townships of Zambia, people are proving them wrong. The first million voices in the Big Noise show the determination that exists across the world to make trade fair. These people are not going to go away."

The petition will be presented to world leaders at the World Trade Organization ministerial meeting in Cancun, Mexico, in September this year and will continue to grow until trade rules are finally changed. Archbishop Tutu is calling on others to follow his lead: "I hope you will join me in opposing the injustice of protectionism and support the cry of ordinary people."

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