50 Years Is Enough!
by the US Network for Global Economic Justice
We call for the immediate suspension of the policies and practices of the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank Group that have caused widespread
poverty, inequality, and suffering among the world's peoples and damage to
the world's environment. We assert the responsibility of these institutions,
together with the World Trade Organization, for an unjust world economic system.
We note that these institutions are anti-democratic, controlled by the G-7
governments, and that their policies have benefited international private
sector financiers, transnational corporations, and corrupt officials and politicians.
We further call for the creation of a neutral and credible "Truth Commission,"
composed of individuals with a demonstrated commitment to poverty eradication,
to investigate the actions and impacts of the IMF and the World Bank. The
Truth Commission's findings must be respected and acted on by the governments,
institutional officials, and civil society organizations concerned with economic
development and international financial policies.
We issue this call in the name of global justice, in solidarity with the
peoples of the Global South and the former "Soviet bloc" countries
of Eastern Europe and Central Asia who struggle for survival and dignity in
the face of unjust, imperialistic economic policies. We stand in solidarity
too with the millions in the countries of the Global North who have borne
the burden of "globalization" policies that mirror those imposed
on the Global South.
Only when the coercive powers of the international financial institutions
are eliminated shall governments be accountable first and foremost to the
will of their peoples. Only when a system that allocates power chiefly to
the wealthiest nations for the purpose of dictating policies to the weaker
and impoverished ones is reversed shall peoples be able to forge bonds - economic
and otherwise - based on mutual respect and the common needs of the planet
and its inhabitants. Only when integrity is restored to economic development,
and both the corrupter and the corrupted held accountable, shall the people
begin to have confidence in the decisions that have impacts on their livelihoods
and their communities. Only when the well-being of all, including the most
vulnerable peoples and ecosystems, is given priority over corporate profits
can we achieve genuine sustainable development and create a world of justice,
equality, and peace where fundamental human rights, including internationally-recognized
social, cultural, environmental, and economic rights, are respected.
With these ends in mind, we make the following demands of the management,
Executive Directors, and Governors of the World Bank and the International
Monetary Fund:
1. DEBT CANCELLATION: We demand that the IMF and World Bank cancel 100% of
all claimed debts without imposing any form of external conditionalities.
We concur with the position of Jubilee South that holds these debts to be
illegitimate. Any funds required for this purpose should come from positive
net capital and assets held by those institutions. Should other institutions,
such as the African Development Bank, require assistance to write off the
debts owed them, we call on the World Bank and IMF to make such funds available.
We believe that civil society in the indebted countries should take the lead
in determining how savings realized through cancellation are utilized.
2. END STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT: We demand that the IMF and World Bank immediately
cease imposing the economic austerity measures known as structural adjustment
and/or any other macroeconomic "reform" as conditions of loans,
credits, or debt relief. This requires both the suspension of those conditions
in existing programs and an abandonment of "poverty reduction strategy
papers" (PRSPs) and any version of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries
(HIPC) Initiative, which conditions debt relief on policy reforms.
3. TRANSPARENCY: We demand that the IMF and World Bank Group make all board
meetings public and all documents in its possession freely available to the
public (with exceptions to protect confidentiality to be decided on by a neutral
body). This includes all project and program agreements, board meeting minutes,
evaluations of program failures and successes, etc. All documents must be
made available in the local languages of project- and policy- affected peoples.
4. REPARATIONS FOR STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT: We demand that the IMF and World
Bank accept responsibility for the disastrous impact of structural adjustment
policies, as determined by a neutral and credible Truth Commission, by paying
reparations to the peoples and communities who have borne the consequences.
These funds should come from the institutions' positive net capital and assets,
and should be distributed through democratically-determined mechanisms.
5. REPARATIONS FOR SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL DEVASTATION: We demand that
the World Bank Group pay reparations to peoples relocated and otherwise harmedby
its large projects (such as dams) and compensate governments for loan repayments
made on projects which World Bank evaluations rank as economic failures. A
further evaluation by a neutral and credible Truth Commission should determine
which World Bank projects have failed on economic, social, cultural, andenvironmental
grounds, and see that appropriate compensation is made. The funds for these
payments should come from the institutions' positive net capital and assets,
and should be distributed through democratically-determined mechanisms.
6. STOP AID TO PRIVATE SECTOR: (a) We demand that the World Bank Group immediately
cease providing advice and resources to advance the goals associated with
corporate globalization, such as privatization and liberalization; (b) We
demand that the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Multilateral
Investment Guaranty Agency (MIGA) be privatized or closed, and that private-sector
investments currently held by these World Bank agencies be liquidated to provide
funds for the reparations demanded above.
7. ACCOUNTABILITY FOR CORRUPTION: We demand that the agencies and individuals
within the World Bank Group and IMF complicit in abetting corruption, as well
as their accomplices in borrowing countries and inprivate banks, be prosecuted,
with full cooperation from the institutions, and that those responsible, including
the institutions, recover and return stolen wealth and provide compensation
for unrecoverable stolen resources. We call for a neutral and credible Truth
Commission to assess the culpability of the various parties to corruption
and stolen wealth.
8. ASSESSMENT OF INSTITUTIONS' FUTURE: We demand that the future existence,
structure, and policies of multilateral institutions such as the World Bank
Group and the IMF be submitted to a re-evaluation conducted through a democratic,
participatory and transparent process, building on the findings of a neutral
and credible Truth Commission. The process must accord full participation
to the peoples most affected by the policies and practices of the institutions,
and include a significant and influential role for all parts of civil society,
including farmers' associations, trade unions, women's organizations, non-governmental
organizations, faith-based groups, and student/youth organizations.
The accession to these demands would require the institutions' directors
to accept and act on the need for fundamental transformation. It is possible
that the elimination of these institutions will be required for the realization
of global economic and political justice.
We commit to work towards the defunding of the IMF and World Bank by opposing
further government allocations to them (in the form of either direct contributions
or the designation of collateral) and supporting campaigns such as a boycott
of World Bank bonds until these demands have been met.
