The Wall Street Journal
January 24, 2001
By Helene Cooper, Staff Reporter

The World Trade Organization finally has found a country willing to host its next big meeting: Qatar.

The WTO formally accepted Qatar's offer to host the follow-up to the 1999 Seattle meeting. WTO Director-General Michael Moore said the event, which may launch a round of trade talks, will be held in Doha, Qatar's capital, Nov. 5-9.

"I am very pleased about this," Mr. Moore said. "They were the first to make an offer."

Last time, the WTO's big meeting blew up in spectacular fashion, as Seattle police in riot gear fired rubber bullets and canisters of tear gas at protesters. Some 30,000 free-trade foes closed down the meetings for a day, forcing the mayor to declare martial law for almost a week. Altogether, property damage topped $3 million, and the gathering left a permanent scar on Seattle's laid-back reputation.

After that experience, other countries haven't been lining up to host the next meeting. Indeed, WTO officials at first spurned Qatar's offer, saying the tiny Persian Gulf emirate didn't have enough hotel rooms. But with no other viable alternatives, trade officials worked out a compromise: Delegates will stay on cruise ships in the harbor.

Trade officials say Qatar has promised to allow all WTO critics who so desire to attend. The free-trade foes who disrupted the Seattle meeting were openly skeptical, however, pointing to Qatar's less-than-democratic record. Its people don't vote, and the same family has ruled the emirate since World War I.

"The WTO would have a much easier time if they just bought a remote island and fortified its coastline to keep the pesky public away," said John Sellers, head of the Ruckus Society, which helped spearhead the Seattle protests.

Mr. Sellers said he nonetheless will look into perhaps conducting a desert training camp for activists seeking to disrupt the Qatar meeting. "I'm calling around now looking for desert camouflage."

Human Rights Watch News Release

Human Rights Watch
From:HRWpress@hrw.org
January 19, 2001
For Immediate Release

(New York, January 20, 2001) -- The upcoming meeting of the World Trade Organization should not be held in the Persian Gulf state of Qatar, Human Rights Watch said today.

"Holding this meeting in Qatar would shut down any possibility of peaceful protest," said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. "The WTO can't avoid public protests by holding a meeting in a country that doesn't allow public protest. That would send the signal that it's okay to build the global economy on a foundation of repression -- exactly the opposite of the message the WTO should be pronouncing."

Roth said that either Qatar must pledge that free assembly will be respected or the WTO ministers should find another location.

Qatar's human rights record is blemished, Human Rights Watch said. Although the free-wheeling al-Jazeera satellite television station is based in Qatar, the government restricts freedom of assembly. The U.S. State Department's latest report on Qatar, published in February 2000, noted severe restrictions on freedom of assembly and association:

• The Government severely limits freedom of assembly.
• The Government does not allow political demonstrations.
• The Government severely limits freedom of association.
• The Government does not allow political parties or membership in international professional organizations critical of the Government or of any other Arab government.
• Private social, sports, trade, professional, and cultural societies must be registered with the Government. Security forces monitor the activities of such groups.

The Reuters news agency reported from Geneva yesterday that diplomats expected Qatar to host the meeting, which reportedly is scheduled for later this year. The story quoted Qatar's ambassador to the WTO, Fahad Awaid al-Thani, who said that WTO member states informally polled by WTO General Council chairman Kare Bryn of Norway had found "no opposition to us."

The WTO told Human Rights Watch today that the venue decision will be made by the organization's General Council, which is next scheduled to meet on February 8 in Geneva. The WTO said there was a possibility that the council would convene before the end of January although a date had not yet been set.

Increasing public concern about the WTO's failure to incorporate respect for human rights, labor rights, the environment, and globalization's impact on the poor culminated in large-scale protests during the last ministerial meetings in Seattle in November 1999. Subsequent protests occurred at the spring and annual meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund that were held in Washington, D.C. and Prague, respectively.

"Instead of addressing protesters' concerns, the only thing the WTO seems to have learned is to hold meetings in countries that ban public protests altogether," said Roth.

For more information, please contact:

Joe Stork, in Washington, DC: +1 202 612 4327
Virginia N. Sherry, in New York: +1 212 216 1231
Jean-Paul Marthoz, in Brussels: +32 2 732 2009