In its report issued in London on Wednesday, the World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization says that the problems linked with globalization are not the fault of globalization itself. They are attributed to the fact that people do not know how to keep it under control.

   

Until now discussion of globalization has focused on markets and the economy. According to the fresh report, this approach must be changed; people must be given centre stage in the development.

On the practical level this means that those who have benefited from the fruits of globalization should make a fair deal with the part of the world that has been left behind.

   

The World Commission, jointly chaired by Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa and Finnish President Tarja Halonen, emphasises that globalization needs to contain a social dimension.

   

In its report, A Fair Globalization: Creating Opportunities for All, the commission writes that all people should be guaranteed a decent livelihood and social security. Equality between men and women and among countries should be increased. Democracy and efficiency need to be supported.

   

President Mkapa said that this does not mean that the rich should simply give money to the developing countries; instead he calls for a fair agreement on the exchange of resources. "The developing countries may lack technology, but they can have natural resources", President Mkapa said.

Third World countries have generally been seen to be at the losing end of globalization, but President Halonen pointed out that the scales can easily tip in the other direction.

   

She notes that globalization has cost Finnish workers jobs that have gone to China.

According to the fresh report, it would be wrong to stop the free flow of money, and that of people. On the contrary, rules governing the movement of people should be made more open.

   

The commission also feels that people should have the right to live their lives where they work.

   

"We cannot think that a migrant worker simply comes from somewhere when he or she is needed, and disappears when that is no longer the case", Halonen says.

   

The report concludes that eventually everyone would benefit from the better implementation of globalization.

The next step would be to bring the social dimension of globalization into politics.

   

The emphasis on the role of politicians is reflected in the fact that two presidents in office, rather than former presidents, were chosen to chair the commission.

   

Speaking at the launch of the report, International Labour Organisation Director-General Juan Somavia noted that Mkapa comes from Africa, which has suffered from globalization, while Halonen comes from Finland, which bounced back into the front line of countries soon after the collapse of its trade with the Soviet Union.