Reflections on the 7th Special Session of the U.N. General Assemly

Publisher:  GATT-Fly, Toronto, Canada
Year Published:  1975   First Published:  1975
Pages:  20pp   Price:  $.25  
Resource Type:  Article/Report/Letter
Cx Number:  CX32

Overview and critique of the U.N. conference dealing with the New International Economic Order.

Abstract:  The 7th Special Session of the U.N. General Assembly which took place in New York in September, 1975, was the Second Major U.N. Conference dealing with the New International Economic Order and International economic cooperation. This paper attempts to put this event in historical context, describes briefly the positions of the major actors and critically evaluates the outcome. In addition to describing what happened the paper points out some of the limitations of the New International Economic Order. Such as its inadequate treatment of the role of transnational corporations. The Canadian government's position is criticized as basicly supporting the existing economic order and while there was some positive move by the Canadian government in the area of support for commodity agreements. Gattfly points out that these policies would "only slow down the transfer of wealth from poor countries to wealthier ones, but not reverse the flow". The paper concludes by showing that Canadian people have common interest with the people in developing countries and cites the struggle of the Dene people in the NWT as one example.