SERVICESWith an apparent agenda to control the kind of workers that are allowed to enter their boarders, developing countries - the United States, the European union and Japan - push for the Mode 4 framework under the WTO's General Agreement on Trade and Services (GATS). Mode 4, one the modes supplying services under GATS, refers to the movementof “natural persons” to cover all individuals temporarily moving from one WTO member country to another because of work. Rich countries claim Mode 4 will be beneficial to countries of the South.  But this has been debunked. Ellen Sana, executive director of the Center for Migrants Advocacy, who spoke at Beijing+10 Meets WTO+10: Women’s Rights Activists Take Aim at the WTO , an event organized by the International Gender and Trade Network, noted that Mode 4 favored highly skilled work force like lawyers, accountants. "WTO commodifies human beings.  They’re not even talking about the rights of the workers, just the services they provide" she said.

Furthermore, in a brief by Jubilee South,  Joel Lasam, an economist from the Philippines has pointed out that: MNP or 'mode 4' is not about labor migration.  It refers to the 'movement of natural persons'  among  professionals, highly-skilled workers, and those occupying managerial positions.  It covers the following types of 'movements of natural persons'  covered by mode 4:  a) intra-company transferees deemed 'essential personnel' of a country with commercial pre- sence in a country or territory, like managers  or technical personnel; and b) to business visitors who are short-term visitors not gainfully employed in the host country. Mode 4, according to Lasam, is biased to cater to the movement of skilled workers and professionals. “Moreover, instead of recognizing the importance of  semi-skilled and unskilled labor, which continue to be needed by the countries of the North, GATS only reflects an existing structural and institutional bias against the movement of semi-skilled and unskilled labor.  Mode 4 is thus not inclusive, nor does it facilitate labor migration.  It does not benefit domestic helpers, construction workers, and rank and file employees in industries like tourism, entertainment etc.”

This is indeed alarming for populations of Asia and Pacific overseas workers who have been forced to find jobs abroad due to trade liberalization.  Largely unskilled and semi-skilled,   majority work as domestic workers or in the services or  entertainment industries. The Ecumenical Womens Forum on Life Promoting Trade,  which brought together 60 churchwomen, women working for economic justice in their communities and feminist economists from all major continents and regions,  was likewise  united in the belief that GATS Mode 4 is not the solution to forced migration as it commodifies human beings and does not promote the rights of all migrant workers. In an open letter to WTO director Pascal Lamy, they noted that: “Nearly half of the 192 million migrant workers are female. The consequences are the erosion of social structures and the disintegration of families and communities, leading to inflationary rates of crime, violence, drug abuse and increased vulnerability to HIV and AIDS. 

Migrants generally do not choose to leave their countries but do so in order to survive. They are hete- rogeneous: forced laborers, trafficked persons, undocumented workers and refugees. Many are pushed into sex work. However, all migrant workers are affected by discriminatory practices and suffer abuse from states, employers and society in general.” Rejecting GATS Mode 4, the forum called upon United Nations (UN) member-states to respect and uphold UN Con- ventions and urged all countries to ratify and implement the UN International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families in order to assert that migrant rights are human rights. *  There are four modes of supplying services under  the WTO 's General Agreement on Trade and Services (GATS).

1. Cross border supply - flow of services from one WTO member territory to another that does not require the physical movement of supplier and consumer e.g. telecommunication, courier, and internet services

2. Consumption abroad – this involves movement of the consumjer to the country of the supplier.  E.g. tourists and patients going abroad for treatment

3. Foreign commercial presence – refers to situations in which service providers locate their businesses and operations in a country o territory other than their own.  Establishing a presence includes ownership and bank branches, subsidiaries of foreign insurance companies or hotle chains.

4. Movement of natural persons – this consists of persons of one member entering the territory of another member to supply a service and as such refers  to the provision of services that require the temporary movement of “natural persons” or overseas workers.

Sources:  “A brief on the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and some implications for ordinary citizens”  Jubilee South, December 2005. “RP takes hardline in WTO talks” First posted 02:40am (Mla time) Dec 15, 2005. By Blanche S. Rivera page A2 of the December 15, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer