Thursday, September 27, 2007

"Trade Imbalance: The Struggle to Weigh Human Rights Concerns in Trade Policymaking" discussed at the InfoShop on October 9 at 12:00 pm in JB1-080

(Embedded image moved to file: pic20278.jpg)

DECRG (Development Economics Research Group), International Trade Department,
World Bank
International Labour Organization, Washington Office
The Financial Times

invite you to a book launch of a recent Cambridge University Press publication
|------------------+-----------------------------------------------|
| | |
| | |
| | Trade Imbalance: The Struggle to Weigh |
| | Human Rights Concerns in Trade Policymaking |
| (Embedded | by Susan Ariel Aaronson (Author), Jamie M. |
| image moved to | Zimmerman (Author) |
| file: | |
| pic19489.jpg) | Trade is controversial; around the world |
| | many people believe that trade agreements, |
| | even trade per se, undermines particular |
| | human rights such as labor rights or access |
| | to affordable medicine (the right to |
| | health). But trade and trade agreements |
| | can also advance human rights, directly or |
| | indirectly. In fact, some countries use |
| | trade policies to advance specific human |
| | rights such as labor rights or property |
| | rights. Although scholars, policy makers, |
| | and activists have long debated this |
| | relationship, in truth we know very little |
| | about it. This book enters this murky |
| | territory with three goals. First, it uses |
| | stories about frogs, chocolate, culture, |
| | tires and other topics to provide readers |
| | with new insights into the relationship |
| | between trade and human rights. Second, it |
| | includes the first study of how South |
| | Africa, Brazil, the United States, and the |
| | European Union coordinate trade and human |
| | rights objectives and resolve conflicts. It |
| | also looks at how human rights issues are |
| | seeping into the WTO. Finally, it provides |
| | suggestions to policy makers for making |
| | their trade and human rights policies more |
| | coherent. |
| | For more information about the book, please |
| | go to: www.tradeimbalance.net

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| | |
| | |
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Tuesday, October 9, 2007
12:00pm
World Bank J Building, JB1- 080
701 18th St. NW corner of 18th St. and Pennsylvania Ave.


Moderated by
Bernard Hoekman
Research Manager, Development Research Group, The World Bank
Mr. Hoekman is the manager of the international trade team of the
Development Research Group of the World Bank. He has worked
extensively on the Middle East and North Africa and economies in
transition. Between 1988 and 1993 he was on the staff of the GATT
Secretariat in Geneva. He is a Research Fellow of the London-based
Centre for Economic Policy Research.

Presented by the Authors
Susan Aaronson
Research Associate Professor, George Washington University
From 2002-2006, Ms. Aaronson was the Director of Globalization
Studies at the Kenan Institute, Kenan Flagler Business School. She
is the author of 6 books and numerous articles on globalization,
global corporate social responsibility, business and human rights as
well as trade issues. She is also a frequent speaker on public
understanding of globalization issues. She has appeared on All
Things Considered, Marketplace and Morning Edition, as well as on
CNN, BBC and PBS. Aaronson also serves as a consultant to the
Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, the ILO, and other
organizations.

Jamie Zimmerman
Associate Director of the Global Assets Project, Washington
University in St. Louis
Ms. Zimmerman is conceptualizing, building and managing the Global
Assets project, a joint venture of the Asset Building Program at the
New America Foundation and the Center for Social Development at
Washington University in St. Louis. The program aims to advance
savings and asset-building policies and projects in the developing
and developed world. Previously, Ms. Zimmerman was the Associate
Director of Globalization Studies at the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill?s Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise,
where she managed research and outreach efforts for projects aimed
at building awareness of the relationship between international
trade, human rights, and corporate social responsibility. She has
also worked as an international trade consultant in Sao Paulo,
Brazil, and with nonprofit micro-enterprise development groups in
Urubamba, Peru.
And Special Guest
John Ruggie
United Nations Special Representative on Business & Human Rights
Mr. Ruggie is the Evron and Jeane Kirkpatrick Professor of
International Affairs. Prior to joining the Kennedy School he was
Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations, serving as chief
adviser for strategic planning to Secretary-General Kofi Annan. His
responsibilities included the U.N.'s Global Compact, intended to
advance human rights, labor standards, and environmental principles
in global corporate practices. Mr. Ruggie was Dean of the School of
International and Public Affairs at Columbia University from
1991-96. He also has taught at UC Berkeley and UC San Diego, and has
held visiting appointments at the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace (Geneva), The Royal Institute of International
Affairs (London), Beijing University, and the European University
Institute (Florence).

Comments by:
Armand Pereira
Director, International Labor Organization Washington Office
Mr. Pereira is Director of the International Labor Organization
(ILO) in Washington since May 2005. Before that, he was Director of
the ILO Office in Brasilia, between Jan 1998 and May 2005. He
served the ILO at Headquarters in Geneva from Jan 1982 to Dec 1997
as Senior Economist in the Employment and Development Department
(1982-1992), and as Industry Specialist in the Sectoral Activities
Department (1993-1997).

For more information or to order the book, please visit:

http://www.worldbankinfoshop.org/ecommerce/
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
About the InfoShop
The InfoShop is the public information center of the World Bank and
serves as a forum for substantial debate on international
development. Our extensive events program consists of more than 250
events over the past two years and has hosted many internationally
recognized speakers including Queen Noor, Francis Fukuyama, Jeffrey
Sachs, Amartya Sen, Joseph Stiglitz, Thomas Friedman, and Carly
Fiorina. The InfoShop functions as the only publicly accessible
space at headquarters and provides internal and external audiences
with over 15,000 titles published by the World Bank, international
organizations, and other publishers on development issues.

For more information, visit: www.worldbank.org/infoshop

Comments about the events program:

http://go.worldbank.org/TDG9T8O9K0

For information about the book go to: www.tradeimbalance.net

About ILO
The International Labour Organization (ILO) is devoted to advancing
opportunities for women and men to obtain decent and productive work
in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity. Its
main aims are to promote rights at work, encourage decent employment
opportunities, enhance social protection and strengthen dialogue in
handling work-related issues. In promoting social justice and
internationally recognized human and labour rights, the organization
continues to pursue its founding mission that labour peace is
essential to prosperity. Today the ILO helps advance the creation of
decent jobs and the kinds of economic and working conditions that
give working people and business people a stake
in lasting peace, prosperity and progress.

For more information, visit: www.ilo.org

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