Press release: NGOs launch "The Public Eye on Davos"
An international NGO coalition launched a new project to monitor the World Economic Forum at a media conference in Davos on 28 January. Under the motto of "The Public Eye on Davos", the organizations call for more transparency and changing rules at the World Economic Forum.
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After fighting the WTO Millenium Round in Seattle, non-governmental organizations are targetting the role and proceedings of the World Economic Forum in Davos. At a media conference in Davos, the Berne Declaration, Friends of the Earth/US and the Globalization Challenge Initiative on 28 January launched "The Public Eye on Davos", a project to monitor the World Economic Forum.
"Albeit a private institution, the World Economic Forum has a large impact on global trade, investment and environmental policies. Yet the people who suffer the costs of these policies are exluded from the discussions in Davos," said Peter Bosshard of the Berne Declaration at the NGO media conference. The failure of the Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI) and the WTO's Millenium Round in Seattle demonstrated that the public good could no longer be negotiated behind closed doors, Bosshard maintained.
Andrea Durbin of Friends of the Earth/US appealed to the World Economic Forum "to open the doors for the monitoring and inputs from NGOs and from other civil society institutions." While any meeting had the right to discuss global issues, representatives of governments and international organizations should not negotiate the public good at a private event in Davos, Durbin argued.
At their media conference, Friends of the Earth/US and the Berne Declaration presented an NGO platform supporting their concerns which had been endorsed by 150 organizations from 39 countries. After the media conference, the Forum's founder Klaus Schwab and Goran Lindahl, CEO of the ABB Group, discussed the NGO concerns with Manuel Chiriboga and Vandana Shiva of "The Public Eye on Davos" at a panel debate.
The "Public Eye" representatives will be present in Davos throughout the World Economic Forum in order to monitor the Forum proceedings. Several members of the NGO team - including Walden Bello (Thailand), Brent Blackwelder (US), Manuel Chiriboga (Ecuador), Martin Khor (Malaysia) and Vandana Shiva (India) - have been officially invited to make presentations at the Forum. The Berne Declaration and Friends of the Earth/US announced that they intend to expand the activities of "The Public Eye on Davos" in the coming years.
Contact details for further information:
"The Public Eye on Davos", +41 79 478 91 94, webmail at evb.ch, www.evb.ch (28 January - 1 February)
"The Public Eye on Davos", c/o Berne Declaration, +41 1 277 70 06, davos at evb.ch, www.evb.ch (after 1 February)