Green Party co-leader Rod Donald said it was deeply ironic that the World Trade Organisation, which claims free trade increases human rights, is holding a Ministerial meeting in Qatar where political protest is illegal.

WTO director Mike Moore has announced the next WTO Ministerial Meeting is to be held in Qatar, an Arab state on the Persian Gulf which is governed by a monarchy without democratically elected institutions or political parties, between November 5 - 9 this year.

"I think it is both incredible and outrageous that this organisation which claims to support global human rights has decided to hold a meeting in a nation with no commitment to either human rights or democracy," said Mr Donald.

"Clearly the surging opposition to free trade and globalisation over the last year is behind this choice of venue."

The latest report from the US State Department on Qatar, published last year, found that the government severely restricts freedom of assembly, limits freedom of association and does not permit political parties or membership of other organisations critical of the Government.

"Holding a meeting in Qatar is a further blow to the credibility of not just the WTO but of the whole globalisation agenda," said Mr Donald.

"I call on Trade Negotiations Minister Jim Sutton to urge the WTO to abandon the Qatar meeting."

© Scoop Media

Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>