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friends of the earth
international
cancun, mexico, 11 september
2003
on the death of south korean farmer, lee
kyung-hae and the wto's negotiations on
agriculture
On 10 September 2003, during the World Trade
Organisation (WTO)’s Fifth Ministerial in
Cancun, Mexico, Lee Kyung-Hae, former
president of the Korean Advanced Farmers
Federation, took his life in front of police
barricades erected to prevent access to the
Centro de Convenciones where the WTO is
meeting.
In doing so, he hoped to focus the world’s
attention on the plight of farmers in South
Korea and across the globe, many millions of
whom have been impoverished and even driven
to suicide as a direct result of the impact
of neo-liberal economic globalization on food
production, livelihoods, and the
environment.
The WTO is systematically undermining
subsistence farming and the lives of small
farmers around the world. The globalization
of agriculture and food systems has been
marked by a move to industrial
export-oriented production heavily influenced
by the interests of transnational
corporations (TNCs), who are increasingly
able to dictate the way that food is produced
traded and marketed. It has led to the
establishment of intellectual property rights
systems that permit TNCs to expropriate
farmers’ knowledge of food production
techniques and basic resources such as seeds
and it discourages sustainable agriculture
and the production of healthy food.
Friends of the Earth International
supports and defends the right of all to
demonstrate and freely voice their beliefs.
Lee Kyung-Hae was a committed campaigner with
many years’ experience and his death was a
significant political protest that has to be
understood in a cultural context. His views
and those of peasant farmers around the world
must be listened to by those governments
meeting in Cancun to force through trade
rules that promote the interests of
transnational corporations.
Friends of the Earth International
supports the position of La Via Campesina.
The WTO is an inappropriate forum for food
and agriculture and therefore the current
negotiations on agriculture should be stopped
in Cancun. Real solutions – both in the short
and the long term – require a deep and
radical shift away from export-oriented
industrial agriculture. WTO rules should not
apply to food and agriculture.
Finally, Friends of the Earth
International wishes to express its support
for the Korean people in their aspirations to
achieve justice, equity and dignity for
everyone, particularly small farmers who are
suffering the consequences of WTO policies so
deeply.
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