Open letter to Dr. Klaus Schwab
Founder and President of the « World Economic Forum » 

"The earth is round so that no one can hide in the corners" 

Your decision to transfer the « World Economic Forum 2002 » to New York is a brave one: it is a challenge and its meaning is clear to everyone. In the Swiss newspaper « Le Temps » of October 6, 2001 you have announced that this Forum will be devoted to « the fight against terrorism » and « the means with which one can root out the evil leading to despair ». 

No despair can justify a terrorist act – be there 5 or 5,000 victims. Too many observers inundate newspapers with comments and analysis on « despair » as being at the root of terrorism even though the authors and those behind such acts are not in the least desperate, but war leaders pursuing what certain people have called “theocratic gangster-like Stalinism”. Those who truly are desperate are the people who must survive in countries where the economic and social conditions are deteriorating, who are ready to follow any leader able to channel their religious feelings, as these are more or less the last things left to them. What else could be pushing thousands of people across the world to deliberately risk their lives on rotten ships in the hope of survival thousands of kilometers away from home? 

Relocating the World Economic Forum must also enable it to be rebuilt: from a club of political and economic decision makers congratulating each other in front of the media; it should become the informal place and time for exchange and confrontation of views beyond any Manichean polarization. Looking at threats facing humanity as a whole, it is absurd to declare oneself for or against globalization. The real issue is what sort of globalization we want. 

For decades, international solidarity organizations have made themselves hoarse reminding us about the increasing pauperization of two thirds of the world population. Why do our teams still need to mobilize volunteers in 2001, after forty years of « co-operation » with countries now independent, to fund maternity homes and clinics in slums and refugee camps? 

If the liberalization of world trade favors economic progress in the poorest countries, why has it become « unavoidable » to deprive States of any ability to implement the fundamental rights of the people they are supposed to serve? How can we accept a process of « State disengagement» in countries allocating a meager 5 to 8 % of their (official) budgets to public education and health – where almost half of the population is composed of children under 18? Such weakening of the State is totally counter-productive. The contradiction between dozens of international human rights instruments and the reality in the field generates a feeling of universal hypocrisy, which is, and we have experienced it, to be taken very seriously. 

No matter, whether one speaks about the power of politics, economy or the media, it is not at all "radical", to demand that every power that wants to be global, also assumes global responsibility. Even if transnational corporations are in a position to create employment in the poorest countries, this does not free them from complying with international and national laws prohibiting the exploitation of child labor. The compartmentalization of the economic system frees nobody from their responsibility for the situation in agricultural plantations or in relocated factories. 

Apart from all Manichean, at times demagogic, rhetoric, NGOs must (re)examine their rhetoric and their approach : Though most human rights violations can be attributed to States, it would not be in the least surprising if in the jungle, which new « global » powers (economic or terrorist), may place this world, NGOs became the last defenders of the State’s prerogative. Isn’t the absence of State the worst-case scenario ? 

For 40 years, NGOs such as Terre des hommes have called for the globalization of fundamental rights of children, women and men of the world. The economic actors can no longer suggest that this is the responsibility of « others ». The time of « Business as usual » is over. In the present confusion where fear determines thinking and behavior, the « World Economic Forum » should contribute to greater awareness of the global responsibility of participants to cease transferring their responsibilities to others: States to transnational corporations (and vice versa), NGOs to States etc. Globalization might even have to be redefined: "A world growing towards unity in great fear".  

We request that your guests ask themselves the following question, the only one that matters: what sort of future are we preparing for the 127 million children that are born throughout the world each year? 

Terre des hommes Foundation
Peter Brey
Secretary general

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