The World Alliance of Reformed Churches has for many years taken part in the annual meetings of the UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva, Switzerland, and has made oral interventions on many occasions. Last year, the Economic and Social Council granted us "special consultative status", which now allows us to make written submissions to the human rights commission.

In the first of these submissions, prepared for this year's meeting of the commission, the Alliance addresses the challenge that globalization presents to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966), and in particular to Article 11 (the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living) and Article 15 (the right of everyone to take part in cultural life and to enjoy the benefits of scientific progress).

"The Judeo-Christian tradition contains a vision according to which every fifty years - ie regularly and repeatedly - the soil must be allowed to rest, debts must be written off, slaves liberated and the land returned to its original owners (Lev 25.8-54)," the Alliance says. This jubilee tradition links the real renewal of the economy with the willingness to make the basic resources of life available to all, and not only to the privileged.

The Alliance identifies itself with John Paul II's observation that "the promotion of justice is at the heart of a true culture of solidarity", and quotes from his encyclical letter, Centesimus Annus: this requires "helping entire peoples presently excluded or marginalized to enter into the sphere of economic and human development. For this to happen, it is not enough to draw on the surplus goods which in fact our world abundantly produces; it requires above all a change of lifestyles, of models of production and consumption, and of the established structures of power which today govern societies."

As a faith community, and an active part of civil society, the Alliance is therefore very concerned about the effects of economic globalization on the majority of the world's population. It is clear that the trade liberalization policies pursued by the World Trade Organization contribute significantly to growing impoverishment and discontent in countries in the southern hemisphere and increasing inequalities in income distribution within countries in all parts of the world.

This has implications, the Alliance contends, for the application of the Covenant. "Although only Article 11.1 explicitly states: "The states parties will take appropriate steps to ensure the realization of this right, recognizing to this effect the essential importance of international cooperation based on free consent', the same must in logic apply to the other articles whenever an action taken in one country has an inescapable impact on the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights in another country."

The Covenant thus commits states that are party to it, not only to act within their own borders, but to work together internationally to ensure that the rights enshrined in the Covenant are, in fact, implemented.

Article 11.2 deals explicitly with the right to be free from hunger, but neoliberal market mechanisms arrange access to food on the basis of command over purchasing power and the poor go hungry. Globalized trade in food leads to imperfect supply chains, while the poor need short supply chains and protection from fluctuations in exchange rates: food locally grown using a minimum of imported inputs.

Turning to intellectual property rights, the subject of Article 15.1.c, the Alliance makes the now familiar point that the patenting of living things can restrict access by the poor to basic agricultural inputs appropriate to, and normally rooted in, their culture and environment. These restrictions can be particularly damaging to indigenous communities.

The Alliance regrets the tendency, supported by the WTO, for the protection of intellectual property to slip from the author to the publisher or distributor, and identifies rather with the view taken by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO): "We focus our attention on what seems to be the heart of intellectual property: creation, not distribution. The ultimate aim is to remunerate the creator, not privilege the distribution or exploitation of works."

The submission underlines the connection between Articles 11 and 15. "The Christian tradition recognizes the central role food plays in conviviality and community, which are basic elements of each culture." In the Fourth Gospel, the first of Jesus' signs is to provide wine for a wedding (John 2.1-11). "Respect for the community who eat is a fundamental human need," the Alliance says.

The WTO Agreement contradicts many of the rights enshrined in the Covenant. The Agreement also contains provisions which are in keeping with the unconditional protection of human rights (see Article 20 of the GATT Agreement), but have been interpreted and implemented in a way that conflicts with the principles of international law and the legally binding norms of the Covenant.

"It is essential that the protection of human rights be given back its rightful place within all UN-related bodies," the Alliance says, referring in particular to the World Trade Organization. "A system of checks and balances needs to be established and UN bodies specifically responsible for protecting human rights need to be given the power to do so. The UN Commission on Human Rights is particularly well placed to play a counterweight role."