The World Needs More Gabrielle More than Ever

Perhaps at no time since the late 1940s has there been more pressure on the rules-based international economic order. In the United States, President Donald Trump is imposing and removing, increasing and lowering tariffs at break-neck speed, all in contravention of American tariff commitments under multilateral and bilateral agreements. Across the globe, debt levels reached a new record high, with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimating that numerous low-income countries are in debt distress or at high risk of being so, including well more than half of the countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. The World Bank’s singular role of reducing global poverty has essentially ground to a halt, with progress interrupted by the COVID pandemic, heightened conflict and geopolitical tensions, increases in inflation, and the sharp tightening in global financial conditions. In the midst of all of this chaos and turmoil, Gabrielle Marceau has stood strong and tall with consistent reminders to me and to the world of the importance of the rule of the law and the ability for good rules that are fairly enforced to bring a measure of calm to the chaos and a degree of justice to the unjust. At this moment in time, when we need more multilateralism, not less, and more faith in a rules-based system, we also need more Gabrielle than ever. Because Gabrielle, perhaps the most well-known of women lawyers at the World Trade Organization (WTO) in a surprisingly crowded field, managed to be everywhere at once, a constant source of help, of edification, of reminding and of nudging all around her to understand, to appreciate, and to adhere to the rule of law. So how did she do it? How did she manage to teach, inspire, and cajole so many of us to look more deeply and to strive much harder to ensure that our work reflected the importance of rules in the trading system? For me, it starts with her insistence for a seat at the table—for lawyers and for women and I thank her both. When I arrived at the WTO Appellate Body in 2007, one of the first people outside of Appellate Body Secretariat I met was Gabrielle, who was serving then in the Cabinet of WTO Director General (DG) Pascal Lamy. In many ways, it was Gabrielle who defined and shaped the role of legal advisor to the Director General, proving to everyone in the building how essential it was to have a lawyer whispering in the DG’s ear. It was Gabrielle’s task to ensure an understanding at the highest levels of the WTO of the legal significance of panel and Appellate Body decisions and to insist that the DG and everyone in the Cabinet was well aware of the legal significance of their own decisions. Gabrielle understood how essential it was that the senior leadership of the WTO could articulate for the rest of the world the mechanics of the dispute settlement system, its role within the WTO as a whole, and the rationale and implications of every panel or Appellate Body report. It was Gabrielle keeping everyone on their toes and speaking with a coherent voice about the legal aspects of the WTO and its work. Gabrielle was equally a champion of giving women a seat at the table, taking to heart US Secretary of State and Ambassador to the United Nations Madeleine Albright’s famous quote: “[T]here is a special place in hell for women who do not help other women.” Gabrielle should have no fear, as the countless women that she taught, mentored, promoted and supported can attest. Gatherings at her cheery flat in Geneva …