Trade and human rights

There is one compelling reason why meeting basic labor rights is essential as far as international trade is concerned -- fairness. Goods produced by child, cheap or forced labor tend to undercut competition. This, rather than the morality aspect of the issue, is the prime reason why the United States and the European Union are insisting that the World Trade Organization (WTO) addresses the issue when it further pushes its free trade agenda at its inaugural meeting in Singapore in December.

Not unexpectedly, U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher refused to budge from his position during meetings this week with foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Christopher also said that the U.S. intends to raise the question of illicit payments and lack of transparency in the way governments award contracts.

ASEAN members, and most other developing countries for that matter, have a valid reason to suspect the true motive behind these stated concerns. The attempt to link trade with labor standards is viewed here as simply a new form of protectionism by developed countries now that, under WTO rules, they no longer are able to impose tariff barriers at will.

Western countries are targeting their concerns chiefly at Asian countries whose economies have grown rapidly over the last two decades. Asia has penetrated their traditional markets and in the process displaced their workers. "Cheap" Asian laborers have become convenient culprits for Western politicians to blame for their domestic economic woes.

There is another reason why ASEAN countries oppose the proposal to link trade with labor and human rights: the tendency in the West to measure foreign issues using their own yardsticks. While there are universal basic labor rights that all countries recognize, there are also gray areas that are open to interpretation.

For example, the Rp 5,200 ($2.3) minimum daily wage for Jakarta workers is considered gross underpayment by the West, especially when compared with the $5 an hour minimum wage set for American workers. A child working on the farm to help his parents is considered normal in this part of the world, but would often be regarded as a child laborer in the West.

A recent cartoon in the International Herald Tribune probably reflects the prevailing attitude in the West on the issue. One side of the cartoon depicts a jobless American male with the caption reading "No Work -- $150 shoes" and the other side a barefooted Indonesian woman laboring to make shoes with the caption "Lots of work -- No Shoes".

ASEAN ministers have warned that the inclusion of labor rights and other "extraneous" issues could divide the WTO meeting in Singapore in December and sidetrack the conference from its free trade goals. Indonesia's Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas even went as far as to suggest the subjects could "debilitate" the WTO.

With the ASEAN meeting this week failing to resolve the gap between ASEAN countries and the United States on the issue, the scene is set for a confrontation in Singapore in December. It remains to be seen how far the United States can impose its will at the WTO, especially given that it does not have the support of all the Western countries. Britain and Australia for example, have stated that they do not back the American proposal.

As Indonesian diplomats and trade negotiators prepare to battle it out at the WTO, we should not close our eyes to the fact that the concerns about the condition of Indonesian workers are valid. We may not have major problems concerning child workers or forced workers, but we have an unfinished agenda with regard to the condition of our workers as well as with corruption in the bureaucracy. These problems should be addressed, irrespective of the WTO agenda, and the sooner the better.