§ Mr. CohenTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what action the European Union is taking to promote international rules (i) against(a) forced and (b) child labour and (ii) to guarantee workers' rights to organize and to bargain collectively; if the United Kingdom Government support this action; and if he will make a statement. [16903]
§ Mr. ForthI have been asked to reply.
The European Commission has recently published a communication which suggested that the World Trade Organisation conference at Singapore
could take the lead in the discussion and set up a working party to look into the question of the links between international trade and working conditions".The Government do not accept that there is any link between trade and labour standards and are opposed to any form of coercive trade action designed to impose particular social standards on developing countries. International labour standards are a matter for the International Labour Organisation, not for the WTO.