8 December 2005

EARLY CHRISTMAS VISIT FOR NUMBER 10 AS SANTA DELIVERS MESSAGE FROM MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY

Santa delivered a special message from campaigners to 10 Downing Street today – you cannot make poverty history without trade justice. 

The message was delivered on a sleigh pulled by four reindeer.  Accompanied by a group of trade campaigners, Santa delivered 750,000 votes for Trade Justice - a special ballot made by the British public which calls on Tony Blair and the UK Government to deliver trade justice - not free trade – in the world trade talks that begin in a few days time.

The delivery is part of the campaigning activities around MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY’s third and final White Band Day (10 December) - a day of global campaigning when tens of millions of ordinary people stand together to call on Tony Blair and other rich country leaders to make radical changes to the way world trade is currently managed so it benefits poor people and the environment and not just the rich and powerful.

The group of trade campaigners representing the MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY coalition and the Trade Justice Movement, delivered this huge public mandate to the Prime Minister:

Among them was Adwoa Sakyi, from the General Agricultural Workers' Union in Ghana:

“Trade liberalisation has already brought extreme hardship to millions of women farmers across the world. The EU pressures us to reduce our tariffs and subsidies but they refuse to do the same. We ask the UK Government to find a way to ensure that the EU respects the right of developing country governments to decide the trade policies that will help reduce poverty, respect the rights of workers and protect the environment.”

The Vote for Trade Justice is part of a massive on-going global call for action for trade justice calling on rich countries at the WTO to stop pushing poor countries to open up their markets against their will and to end export dumping that damages the livelihoods of poor people.  Across the EU over 15 million Europeans have taken action this year on trade and poverty. Already over 10 million ordinary people in both the developing and the rich world - from millions of cotton and coffee farmers in Africa to hundreds of thousands of garment workers in Bangladesh - have voiced their demand for change through trade justice petitions like the Big Noise to Make Trade Fair.

The votes have been collected all year as the Trade Justice Movement, a core network within the MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY coalition, has campaigned for a just trade deal for the world’s poor.  The campaign’s urgent demand is that the UK and the EU must allow poor countries the freedom to choose how to make trade work best for their economies including the right of developing countries to protect their industries, farmers and services.

Mike Gidney from Traidcraft concluded:

"In this year of Africa and Make Poverty History the UK Government has failed to take the lead on the most important issue of all - trade justice. They have a chance to deliver the goods at the WTO but so far the signs are not good. But the millions of people who've taken action this year aren't giving up - we'll continue the fight until we see justice for the world's poor."

For more information visit www.makepovertyhistory.org. 

ENDS

For further information, photography or interview requests please contact:
Catherine Cullen, Media Co-ordinator – MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY:
020 7561 7572 or 07921 231 874catherine.cullen@actionaid.org.  

Notes for Editors:

The UK Government’s 2005 election manifesto included an important new policy, which states that poor countries should not be forced to open their markets.  Secretary of State for Trade and Industry Alan Johnson has recently assured that this policy is his priority for the WTO.  Campaigners welcome the new ‘no forced liberalisation’ policy but are urging for evidence of it in practice. 

The Trade Justice Movement

• The Trade Justice Movement (www.tjm.org.uk) is a coalition of more than 70 UK organisations, including campaign groups, trade unions, faith groups and environmental and development organisations, with a combined membership of over 9 million people. The Trade Justice Movement is one of the networks at the core of Make Poverty History (www.makepovertyhistory.org) - an unprecedented coalition of more than 500 organisations calling for trade justice, drop the debt and more and better aid. 

• The Trade Justice Movement's Mass Lobby of Parliament on 2 November 2005 was the largest-ever such event with 375 MPs lobbied.  In April 2005 the coalition staged the biggest mass protest of the UK election campaign when over 25,000 people filled Whitehall at an all-night vigil.

• The World Trade Organisation (WTO) holds its sixth Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong, China from 13 to 18 December 2005. The EU represents the UK at the WTO as a trading bloc with a common trade policy. European Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson negotiates on behalf of European member states.

MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY

• MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY is a unique UK alliance of over 500 charities, trade unions and campaigning groups supported by leading public figures and celebrities who are all mobilising around key opportunities in 2005 to drive forward the struggle against poverty and injustice working in partnership with the Global Call to Action against Poverty.

• The campaign was launched on 1 January 2005 and will run until the end of the year.

• 2005 is particularly important as the UK chaired the G8 meeting of powerful countries from 6-8 July and holds the 6-month presidency of the European Union.

• MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY challenges the government to deliver trade justice, drop the debt and deliver more and better aid in order to eradicate global poverty.

• 1 July was the first international ‘White Band Day’. Millions of people wore the white band and iconic buildings in each continent were wrapped in the symbol of the global campaign to make poverty history.  White Band Day 2 took place on 10 September around the world and White Band Day 3 will take place on 10 December just ahead of the WTO meeting.

• 250,000 people attended the MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY rally in Edinburgh on 2 July forming a huge white band around the city centre.

• For further information; photography; copies of our ‘Make History’ report on global poverty; a full list of coalition members; and for details of our key challenges to government visit the media section of the website: www.makepovertyhistory.org/media.  Photography:  Username: comic, Password: 12qwklnm

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