Trade and the Environment: Greening of the WTO

<p>The World Trade Organisation has often been demonised for its negative effect on the environment. Environmentalists have chastised the WTO for a failure to protect the environment against the impact of globalised trade. In December 1999 activists marched the Ministerial Conference in Seattle to protest what they saw as the WTO’s preference for free trade at the expense of the environment. They blocked the entrances to the WTO meeting and prevented delegates from attending discussions, ultimately killing the Round of negotiations. Still today the WTO is notorious in environmental circles and has ‘become a watchword for injustice and environmental ignorance.’ One of the, if not the, main reason for this opposition to the WTO is the WTO’s, and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade’s, past treatment of tradeenvironment cases. The Tuna-Dolphin and Shrimp-Turtle cases drew the attention of environmental activists around the world, who saw the decisions of the dispute settlement bodies, which ruled against environmental trade measures, as evidence that the WTO and GATT desire ever-liberalised trade at any cost. The purpose of this paper is to reveal how the WTO has in fact greened over time, and that those who continue to condemn the WTO without reservation have failed to recognise changes in the WTO which signal that the door has been opened to environmental trade measures. This paper does not purport to claim that the GATT has always been an environmentally friendly institution, but rather that significant changes have occurred which warrant a shift in public attitude. The purpose of encouraging that change in public perception is not simply to relieve the WTO of criticism. Rather, the goal of this paper rests on the idea that only once the international community has acknowledged the greening of the WTO, will Member states truly be able to implement trade-related environmental measures that do not contravene the GATT and therefore are left un-contested and free to achieve their environmental aims. If better attention is given to the current jurisprudence, Member states could follow carefully laid out criteria to create effective and acceptable trade-related environmental measures. Part II of this paper provides important background information about the environment-trade debate, the WTO, trade-liberalisation and the significant relationship between trade and the environment. Part III then sets the scene by describing some of the predictions that were made about the potential treatment of the environment by the WTO. Part IV will then describe the key trading principles of the GATT and the environmental exceptions to those principles. Part V highlights several institutional and organization developments which have occurred and which signify a greening of the GATT/WTO arena. Most importantly, Part VI outlines several significant developments in WTO jurisprudence to demonstrate its new sophistication and the resultant greening of the dispute settlement process. Finally Part VII discusses the greening of the WTO in the setting of an environmentally conscious world.</p>

Trade and the Environment: Greening of the WTO

<p>The World Trade Organisation has often been demonised for its negative effect on the environment. Environmentalists have chastised the WTO for a failure to protect the environment against the impact of globalised trade. In December 1999 activists marched the Ministerial Conference in Seattle to protest what they saw as the WTO’s preference for free trade at the expense of the environment. They blocked the entrances to the WTO meeting and prevented delegates from attending discussions, ultimately killing the Round of negotiations. Still today the WTO is notorious in environmental circles and has ‘become a watchword for injustice and environmental ignorance.’ One of the, if not the, main reason for this opposition to the WTO is the WTO’s, and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade’s, past treatment of tradeenvironment cases. The Tuna-Dolphin and Shrimp-Turtle cases drew the attention of environmental activists around the world, who saw the decisions of the dispute settlement bodies, which ruled against environmental trade measures, as evidence that the WTO and GATT desire ever-liberalised trade at any cost. The purpose of this paper is to reveal how the WTO has in fact greened over time, and that those who continue to condemn the WTO without reservation have failed to recognise changes in the WTO which signal that the door has been opened to environmental trade measures. This paper does not purport to claim that the GATT has always been an environmentally friendly institution, but rather that significant changes have occurred which warrant a shift in public attitude. The purpose of encouraging that change in public perception is not simply to relieve the WTO of criticism. Rather, the goal of this paper rests on the idea that only once the international community has acknowledged the greening of the WTO, will Member states truly be able to implement trade-related environmental measures that do not contravene the GATT and therefore are left un-contested and free to achieve their environmental aims. If better attention is given to the current jurisprudence, Member states could follow carefully laid out criteria to create effective and acceptable trade-related environmental measures. Part II of this paper provides important background information about the environment-trade debate, the WTO, trade-liberalisation and the significant relationship between trade and the environment. Part III then sets the scene by describing some of the predictions that were made about the potential treatment of the environment by the WTO. Part IV will then describe the key trading principles of the GATT and the environmental exceptions to those principles. Part V highlights several institutional and organization developments which have occurred and which signify a greening of the GATT/WTO arena. Most importantly, Part VI outlines several significant developments in WTO jurisprudence to demonstrate its new sophistication and the resultant greening of the dispute settlement process. Finally Part VII discusses the greening of the WTO in the setting of an environmentally conscious world.</p>

Reflecting on Durkheim and His Studies on Law through Cancellation of British Citizenship

Through an analysis of cancellation of citizenship laws in the United Kingdom, this chapter evaluates Durkheim’s writings on law and its links to moral evolution. It argues that Durkheim’s studies on law are complex and offer rich insights for contemporary sociolegal research. His methodological approaches are also ones that map onto modern-day sociolegal (“law and society” or “law in context”) research. However, Durkheim is overoptimistic in his view that, with time, a modern morality has emerged which venerates the sanctity of the Individual.2 In nationality deprivation cases, analysis reveals the breakdown of social solidarity and the failure to protect people from statelessness. It appears that organic solidarity of the kind that supports human rights is not always a matter of seamless moral and legal progression, contrary to Durkheim’s views.

Microbiome First Approaches to Rescue Public Health and Reduce Human Suffering

The is a sequential article to an initial review suggesting that Microbiome First medical approaches to human health and wellness could both aid the fight against noncommunicable diseases and conditions (NCDs) and help to usher in sustainable healthcare. This current review article specifically focuses on public health programs and initiatives and what has been termed by medical journals as a catastrophic record of recent failures. Included in the review is a discussion of the four priority behavioral modifications (food choices, cessation of two drugs of abuse, and exercise) advocated by the World Health Organization as the way to stop the ongoing NCD epidemic. The lack of public health focus on the majority of cells and genes in the human superorganism, the microbiome, is highlighted as is the “regulatory gap” failure to protect humans, particularly the young, from a series of mass population toxic exposures (e.g., asbestos, trichloroethylene, dioxin, polychlorinated biphenyls, triclosan, bisphenol A and other plasticizers, polyfluorinated compounds, herbicides, food emulsifiers, high fructose corn syrup, certain nanoparticles, endocrine disruptors, and obesogens). The combination of early life toxicity for the microbiome and connected human physiological systems (e.g., immune, neurological), plus a lack of attention to the importance of microbial rebiosis has facilitated rather than suppressed, the NCD epidemic. This review article concludes with a call to place the microbiome first and foremost in public health initiatives as a way to both rescue public health effectiveness and reduce the human suffering connected to comorbid NCDs.

Microbiome First Approaches to Rescue Public Health and Reduce Human Suffering

The is a sequential article to an initial review suggesting that Microbiome First medical approaches to human health and wellness could both aid the fight against noncommunicable diseases and conditions (NCDs) and help to usher in sustainable healthcare. This current review article specifically focuses on public health programs and initiatives and what has been termed by medical journals as a catastrophic record of recent failures. Included in the review is a discussion of the four priority behavioral modifications (food choices, cessation of two drugs of abuse, and exercise) advocated by the World Health Organization as the way to stop the ongoing NCD epidemic. The lack of public health focus on the majority of cells and genes in the human superorganism, the microbiome, is highlighted as is the &ldquo;regulatory gap&rdquo; failure to protect humans, particularly the young, from a series of mass population toxic exposures (e.g., asbestos, trichloroethylene, dioxin, polychlorinated biphenyls, triclosan, bisphenol A and other plasticizers, polyfluorinated compounds, herbicides, food emulsifiers, high fructose corn syrup, certain nanoparticles, endocrine disruptors, obesogens). The combination of early life toxicity for the microbiome and connected human physiological systems (e.g., immune, neurological), plus a lack of attention to the importance of microbial rebiosis has facilitated rather than suppressed, the NCD epidemic. This review article concludes with a call to place the microbiome first and foremost in public health initiatives as a way to both rescue public health effectiveness and reduce the human suffering connected to co-morbid NCDs.

201 - Care Home Residents as Artists: Digital Connections in the age of Disconnect.

Throughout the current global pandemic, many people have had to adapt to new ways of interacting through virtual platforms. For those with access to new technologies this transition has been straightforward, but not easy and for those without it, life has become socially isolating, frightening, and lonely. The impact of COVID-19 on the mental health of older adults is a serious concern, particularly for those living in care homes who have been forgotten or neglected by exclusionary government policy. Amnesty International’s 2020 report As if Expendable: The UK Government’s Failure to Protect Older People in Care Homes During the COVID-19 Pandemic provides analysis of the neglect to care and sufficiently support older adults living with dementia in supported living. The results of this inaction to provide care has led to many avoidable deaths, and caused fear and heartache for those who have lost family, friends and colleagues. It is at this moment, during the third UK lockdown that we would like to share a narrative of hope about the actions that we have taken within care home contexts to provide relief, reconnect residents safely with their neighbours, and found creative ways to inclusively provide care, support and celebrations of the identities of people in these contexts who have become statistics in news reports.Between January and March 2021, undergraduate and postgraduate Applied Theatre students from The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in partnership with Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust collaborated with residents from One Housing Association to create and develop bespoke films, poems, songs and virtual reality 360 videos from the safety of their homes to bring to life their stories, hopes and inner artists. In this presentation, we will explore the impact of these projects on the participants’ wellbeing and examine the importance of providing older adults opportunities to be creative. We will additionally offer insights into the relationships that were made and developed during the projects, including family connections, intergenerational connections and playful relationships that emerged between the residents themselves and their Carers.

The Road Not Taken: Failure to Protect from Atrocity Crimes in Myanmar

In 2005, more than 150 heads of State and government pledged that the world must never witness another Rwanda. They accepted the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) both their own populations, and those of other States from atrocity crimes. Yet, in late August 2017, thousands of Rohingya had to flee from the alleged genocide taking place in their home, northern Rakhine in Myanmar. The international community, equipped with a toolbox developed and refined over the past 12 years, does nothing more than politely asking Myanmar to stop. This begs the question: to what extent can the Responsibility to Protect doctrine be used to save the Rohingya from atrocities committed against them? This article explores the potential application of the R2P in the context of Myanmar by exploring the root causes of the alleged genocide, the legal status of the R2P and various options open to the international community to protect the Rohingya. The case is made that applying the R2P – in its current shape and form – would be in the best interest of the Rohingya. After all, the international community cannot stand by in the wake of another mass atrocity.

STATE LIABILITY VIS-À-VIS VICTIMS OF CRIME IN POST-1994 SOUTH AFRICAN CASE LAW – SOMETHING NEW OR A REINVENTED WHEEL?

Since 1994 South African courts have dealt with numerous cases where victims of crime have sued the State for its failure to protect them from criminal violation. This article explores these cases in order to ascertain the juristic nature of this liability and the criteria applied in ascertaining whether said liability exists under given circumstances. The author concludes that the legal remedy granted victims is based on the normal rules of the law of delict. Despite the constant reference by judges to constitutional imperatives, the matter is guided by the normal delictual criteria of reasonableness and public policy which, granted, have to be ascertained in deference to constitutional norms. The essential test has thus not changed since to the inception of the Constitution. Nevertheless, it appears that the courts have drawn fresh impetus from the Constitution in granting the claim of the victim of crime. South African courts have thus far shown opposition to the granting of punitive or constitutional damages to victims of crime though the possibility of the granting thereof in future has not been ruled out unequivocally.