INF/TE/IDP/RD/28* 
29 March 2022  
(22-2567) Page: 1/2 
 Original: English, anglais, inglés  
 
  
UNOFFICIAL ROOM DOCUMENT1 
 
INTERVENTION BY THE QUAKER UNITED NATIONS OFFICE (QUNO ) 
IDP WORKSTREAMS MEETING – 18 MARCH 2022  
 
 
DOCUMENT DE S ÉANCE NON OFFICIEL1 
 
INTERVENTION BY THE QUAKER UNITED NATIONS OFFICE (QUNO ) 
IDP WORKSTREAMS MEETING – 18 MARCH 2022  
 
 
DOCUMENTO DE SALA NO OF ICIAL1 
 
INTERVENTION BY THE QUAKER UNITED NATIONS OFFICE (QUNO ) 
 
IDP WORKSTREAMS MEETING – 18 MARCH 2022  
 
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* In Original language only/En langue originale seulement/En el idioma original solamente.  
1 Documents issued in the RD series are not official WTO documents. They usually appear in their 
language of submission and will not be translated systematically into the working languages of the WTO. They 
are intended for use in WTO meeting rooms and are a ttributed an unofficial symbol for archiving purposes only.  
Les documents de la série RD ne sont pas des documents officiels de l 'OMC. Ils ne paraissent 
généralement que dans la langue dans laquelle ils ont été communiqués et ne seront pas systématiquement 
traduits dans les langues de travail de l'OMC. Ils sont destinés aux salles de réunion de l'OMC et une cote non 
officielle leur est attribuée à des fins d'archivage.  
Los documentos de la serie RD no son documentos oficiales de la OMC. Por lo general se distribuyen en 
el idioma en que han sido presentados y no se traduce n sistemáticamente a los idiomas de trabajo de la 
Organización. Se distribuyen para su uso en las salas de reunión de la OMC y se les asigna una signatura no 
oficial a efecto s de archivo únicamente.  INF/TE/IDP/RD/28  
 
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  INTERVENTION BY THE QUAKER UNITED NATIONS OFFICE (QUNO ) 
1. The Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO) thanks the IDP workstream facilitators and co -
coordinators for organizing inviting QUNO to participate in this discussion.    
2. The international momentum and action around issues of plastics pollution and marine plast ics 
litter is strong. Last week, we witnessed a historical moment at the UN Environment Assembly 
(UNEA -5), as Heads of State, Ministers of environment and other representatives from 175 nations 
agreed on a resolution towards reaching a legally binding glob al plastic instrument, which will 
address the entire lifecycle of plastic products – from production to design to disposal – by 2024 and 
enshrining the principles of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development.    
3. QUNO’s 75 years of experience as a trusted presence at the multi -lateral level facilitated our 
role as one of only two NGO’s accorded stakeholder status at the TESSD, and now at IDP. We provide 
a safe space for quiet diplomacy meetings where delegates engage and share perspectives on 
difficult issues. We have the capacity to host dialogue and provide briefing papers on various areas 
of interest being discussed at the IDP [perhaps this will assist the IDP in its workstream #3, as 
outlined in the work plan 2022]. Last year, on the occasion of the WTO Public Forum, QUNO 
moderated a side -event entitled: “Humanizing the WTO: Seeking a Sustainable, Just, and Integrative 
Trade Agenda,” with support and in collaboration from the Friedrich -Ebert -Stiftung Foundation. 
During this gathering, panelists sh ared different perspectives and answered questions on how to 
make WTO work more impactful, durable, and accountable to the human impacts of trade (in its 
various levels and dimensions).   
4. Looking at the MC12 Ministerial Statement On Plastic Pollution And E nvironmentally 
Sustainable Plastics Trade, we are pleased to see members’ commitments to addressing the trade -
related capacity building and technical assistance needs of developing members, in particular least 
developed members and vulnerable Small Island Developing States and their MSMEs (Section 3, 
para 2.) in their efforts to obtain access to environmentally sustainable waste management 
technologies, expand their trade in environmentally sustainable and effective substitutes; and 
strengthen the ability t o transition towards a circular plastics economy (consider the 5 -R model: 
reduce reuse, recycle, repair, and replace); among others. While these assistance mechanisms and 
collaboration modalities may bring tangible benefits to our collective capacity to co nfront the marine 
litter and plastics pollution challenge, they must be implemented through national policy 
mechanisms that are informed by human rights impact assessments, and involving full participation 
– throughout the planning, decision -making, and im plementation process – of affected sectors and 
impacted communities.  As we join hands to find sustainable solutions to plastic pollution, we must 
ensure this also helps address the marginalization of women in the economy. As Dr Okonjo -Iweala, 
DG of the WT O has observed: “Narrowing gender gaps in trade and the wider economy is not just 
the morally right thing to do, it is the smart economic thing to do.”  
5. We must coordinate our efforts to address the trade -related aspects of the plastics pollution 
and marin e litter challenge through a granular perspective, which takes into account the human 
impacts of policies that lie at the juncture of trade and environment and provide developing members 
and LDCs (including SIDS) with just transition ideas and redress mech anisms, as well as finance for 
their transition towards a circular plastics economy.    
6. AS UNEP figures suggest, A shift to a circular economy can reduce the volume of plastics 
entering oceans by over 80 per cent by 2040; reduce virgin plastic production b y 55 per cent; save 
governments US$70 billion by 2040; reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25 per cent; and create 
700,000 additional jobs – mainly in the global south. 2 
7. We thank you for inviting us to this important dialogue and look forward to collaborating with 
you towards advancing this crucial agenda.   
 
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2 UNEP, “Policy options to eliminate additional marine plastic litter by 2050 under the G20 Osaka Blue 
Ocean Vision: an International Resource Panel Think Tank Piece,” United Nations Environmental Programme  
(2021), https://www.resourcepanel.org/reports/policy -options -eliminate -additional -marine -plastic -litter