Finding the Moral Fiber
In the briefing paper Finding the Moral Fiber: Why Reform Is Urgently Needed for a Fair Cotton Trade, Oxfam calls for a timetable for the elimination of all trade-distorting cotton subsidies.
Cotton has been at the top of the WTO's agenda for the past two years. However, little has changed so far for small-scale cotton producers in West Africa, who will not survive another major slump in cotton prices. In July 2004, WTO members committed to ambitious and expeditious cotton subsidy reforms. To give African producers a chance, it is urgent to turn these commitments into action. Oxfam calls for the implementation of the Brazil-US cotton panel ruling and a timetable for the elimination of all trade-distorting cotton subsidies by the time of the Hong Kong WTO ministerial conference in December 2005.