Past campaign

WDM was founded in 1970, by bringing together a number of groups which had been campaigning against world poverty during the late 1960s. We broke new ground by focusing on the causes of poverty and demanding policy changes rather than charitable giving. Since then, WDM has evolved into a democratic, politically independent organisation, with 15,000 supporters and a network of 60 local groups across the UK. Read more about our campaigning successes below.

This report is a guide to the policies of UK political parties ahead of the UK general election to be held on 6 May 2010. It seeks to give a guide to the policies of Labour, Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, Greens, Scottish National Party (SNP) and Plaid Cymru in key areas relating to international justice: trade justice; more and better aid; making the economy work for poor people and repaying our climate debt.

Our Achievements in 2009

WDM Scotland campaigned hard in 2009 for a strong Scottish climate change bill - calling in particular for international aviation emissions to be included in the bill.  Working in coalition with Stop Climate Chaos Scotland, we succeeded in establishing a very strong Act with the most ambitious emissions targets of any developed country: 42% cut in greenhouse gases by 2020.

WDM has been campaigning on trade issues for almost three decades and monitoring negotiations at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) since its creation in 1995.

As part of our evidence-based approach WDM produces reports to support our campaigning work.

Below is a list of all our old campaign reports available as pdf files. We do have a limited supply of paper copies available on request.

You can also use the site search to locate past campaign reports.

WDM has also run one-off campaigns on individual transnational companies (TNCs) in support of communities or workers in poor countries. Companies included Disney, Nestlé, Rio-Tinto, Shell and P&O.

WDM campaigned on the rights of workers in toy factories between 1995 and 1996 and in 1998.

WDM campaigned on this issue between 1997 and 1998

WDM campaigned on Tobacco multinationals in 1999.

WDM campaigned on asbestos between 1997 and 2001