by David Martin – SANF 04 no 14
Almost surreptitiously – except to those who follow tourism and diplomacy – the World Tourism Organization (WTO) became the latest specialized agency of the United Nations on 24 December 2003.
Now the WTO enjoys equal status with such agencies as the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), the International Labour Organization (ILO), the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the World Health Organization (WHO).
Specialized agency status entitles the WTO to participate as a full member in the UN Systems Chief Executive Board for Coordination (CEB) that elaborates system-wide strategies in response to overall inter-governmental directives on economic cooperation and development.
The WTO will also be invited to the UN General Assembly and Security Council where, it says, it will highlight the role of tourism in support of socio-economic development and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
“Tourism will from now on be considered by international society on an equal footing with other major activities of humanity: industry, agriculture, education and culture, health, labour,” said the secretary-general of the WTO, Francesco Frangielli.
“This is a big step forward for our organization, but it is an even bigger one for the entire international tourism community.
“The transformation of WTO into a specialized agency signifies an acceptance by the international community of the multidimensional nature of tourism; that the impact of tourism on poverty alleviation, preservation of cultural heritage, environmental protection and promotion of peace and understanding among all nations has gained universal recognition,” Frangielli added.
Fine words from Frangielli, but let us pause to look at the UN record. First of all, few of the UN agencies mentioned by the WTO are based in the South where one does not need the world body’s statistics to see that they desperately need the employment that UN agency headquarters can bring.
The UN itself is based in New York, as is the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF). The FAO has its headquarters in Rome, the ILO and WHO are in Geneva, UNESCO is in Paris and UNIDO is in Vienna. The WTO headquarters are in Madrid. The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) is, of course, headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, one of few in the South.
Beyond that, the record of the WTO (not to be confused with that other WTO for Trade) must be perused, for the organization is an extension of the rich northern agencies, despite its pretensions to the contrary.
London alone attracts more tourists per annum than does the whole of Africa. It is these tourists and not the tourists heading for Africa that the WTO has focussed on. And it is the tourists going to London that the WTO will continue to focus on unless the South organizes and unites.
By becoming a UN specialized agency, however, the WTO has left itself open to greater scrutiny and pressure than has been the case in past. Strategically located in the Spanish capital, it was able to do pretty much as it liked and employ (mainly Spanish) whom it liked.
For instance, in the latest edition of its tourism journal, the WTO lists 23 members of its team including Frangielli. Not one is black, and even the two research fellows are white.
Now it has new masters, the 182 members of the United Nations, almost a third of whom are African states. With some planning they can make a difference through exerting pressure for change and for the real need for the WTO to take seriously poverty reduction, preservation of cultural treasures and the environment.
What, one might ask, has the WTO done in the past that convinces us that in the future they will take these things more seriously? The short answer is nothing.
They have not spoken out against the United States on the abrogation of its global agreements affecting the environment; they have not sought to restore cultural treasures from the South that are languishing in European museums; and they have not sought to reduce global poverty.
Now it is up to the South to ensure that Frangielli’s fine words have a meaning. A good starting point might be the election of the next secretary-general of the WTO at its general assembly in Senegal in late 2005. [SARDC]
