Ross Hammond
The Development GAP
on behalf of the US 50 Years Is Enough Campaign
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Comments from NativeNet moderator, Gary Trujillo (gst@gnosys.svle.ma.us):
Here is a copy of the platform of this organization, obtained from the
IGC system (PeaceNet/EcoNet), where it was posted earlier this month.
This is an important issue for indigenous peoples when one considers
the effects that IMF/World Bank projects and initiatives have had upon
their lives worldwide during the past half century.
/* Written 9:37 am May 10, 1994 by dgap@igc.apc.org in igc:econ.saps */
/* ---------- ""50 Years Is Enough" U.S. Campaign " ---------- */
Dear Friends:
Below is the platform of the U.S. "50 Years Is Enough" Campaign
which is a colaition of over 35 U.S. groups committed to
fundamental, structural changes in the IMF and World Bank. If your
organization would like to join the campaign, please send a message
to <<dgap@igc.apc.org>>. Please include a contact name and
address, phone, fax and e-mail information. For non-U.S.
recipients, we encourage you to send a message of support and send
us whatever documents have been produced in your country.
Sincerely,
Ross Hammond
The Development GAP
on behalf of the U.S. "50 Years Is Enough" Campaign
PLATFORM OF THE U.S. "50 YEARS IS ENOUGH" CAMPAIGN
1994 marks the 50th anniversary of the founding of the World
Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), institutions which
have been promoting and financing inequitable and unsustainable
development overseas that has created poverty while destroying the
environment. These organizations are also profoundly undemocratic
in that they have consistently denied citizens information about,
and involvement in, major decisions affecting their respective
societies.
For more than a decade, citizens' groups in the United States,
in collaboration with partner organizations in the Third World and
Eastern Europe, have lobbied the IMF and the World Bank, as well as
the U.S. government, for reforms in the operations and policies of
these institutions. Despite these efforts and the growing chorus
of criticism from the U.S. Congress, governments and UN agencies,
the IMF and World Bank continue to resist fundamental and
meaningful change.
To mark the 50th anniversary of the Bretton Woods conference
at which these institutions were founded, a diverse group of U.S.
organizations has established the "50 Years Is Enough" Campaign.
"50 Years Is Enough" was chosen as the Campaign's slogan to express
the strongly held belief by growing numbers of people around the
globe that the type of development that the World Bank and IMF have
been promoting cannot be allowed to continue.
Above all, the Campaign is calling for the full participation
of affected women and men in all aspects of World Bank and IMF
projects, policies, and programs. This will require far-reaching
changes in the lending policies, internal processes and structure
of the World Bank and the IMF. Only when these reforms are
implemented will these institutions be able to play a positive role
in support of equitable and sustainable development. This will
require the following:
1. openness and full public accountability of the Bretton Woods
institutions and the systematic integration of affected women
and men in the formulation, implementation, monitoring and
evaluation of World Bank and IMF projects and policies;
2. a major reorientation of World Bank- and IMF-financed
economic-policy reforms to promote more equitable development
based upon the perspectives, analysis and development
priorities of women and men affected by those policies;
3. an end to environmentally destructive lending and support for
more self-reliant, resource-conserving development;
4. the scaling back of the financing, operations, role and,
hence, power of the World Bank and the IMF and the
rechanneling of financial resources thereby made available
into a variety of development assistance alternatives; and
5. a reduction in multilateral debt to free up additional capital
for sustainable development.
1. INSTITUTIONAL REFORM TO MAKE OPENNESS, FULL PUBLIC
ACCOUNTABILITY AND THE PARTICIPATION OF AFFECTED POPULATIONS IN
DECISIONMAKING STANDARD PROCEDURE AT THE WORLD BANK AND THE IMF.
While modest steps have been taken toward greater openness at the
World Bank, they have been inadequate to allow for meaningful
participation of affected populations and have had no positive
effect on project quality. Even when consultative mechanisms are
called for by current World Bank procedure, this requirement is
often sidestepped by staff. For example, acting against the
requirements for Environmental Assessments, the World Bank
regularly fails to consult with affected communities and continues
to lend for environmentally destructive projects. Likewise, the
secretive process through which structural adjustment programs are
designed and implemented continues to undermine democratic
participation and the local relevance and effectiveness of the
reforms themselves.
Despite a World Bank policy that states there is a presumption
in favor of disclosure of information, in practice the Bank has
restricted almost every type of information regarding its projects
and policy-based lending. The World Bank's new information policy,
rather than requiring the public availability of project and
program planning documents, has established a system of new
information documents for each project that could potentially
obscure important facts and analysis.
The "50 Years Is Enough" Campaign is therefore calling for:
* FULL OPENNESS AND SYSTEMATIC CONSULTATION BY THE WORLD BANK
AND IMF WITH LOCAL POPULATIONS POTENTIALLY AFFECTED BY THE POLICY
REFORMS, PROGRAMS AND PROJECTS THEY SUPPORT. To be relevant to the
needs of local populations, adjustment programs must be designed
locally by all relevant sectoral ministries with the active
participation of a broad range of representatives from civil
society. The IMF should be further required to consult social and
environmental experts at every stage of program development to
ensure that adjustment policies do not increase hardship on the
poor or destruction of the environment. At the World Bank, more
time must be allocated early in the project cycle to allow for
sufficient local consultations so that affected people can
participate in project development. To ensure that women as
development actors are fully represented in this process, and to
address the historical exclusion of women from decisionmaking
structures at local, national and international levels, specific
mechanisms will need to be established for their full inclusion.
* FULL DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION AT THE WORLD BANK AND IMF.
Citizens must have full access to all Bank and IMF documentation
required to make informed and effective input into the program-
development process. This calls for the revision of the
institutions' respective information policies to ensure the release
of key internal papers, including project and program documents,
from the early stages of the planning process.
* LEGAL AND STRUCTURAL CHANGES AT THE IMF TO PERMIT AN
INCREASE IN ITS OPENNESS AND ACCOUNTABILITY. The IMF's Articles of
Agreement must be adjusted to allow greater participation of
government ministries and civil society in program design. At the
same time, an independent evaluation unit must be established at
the IMF to review, on a country-by-country basis, the impact of the
implementation of IMF-required or -recommended policy prescriptions
on poverty, economic development and the natural environment.
2. A SHIFT IN THE NATURE OF ECONOMIC-POLICY REFORM PROGRAMS AND
POLICIES TO SUPPORT EQUITABLE, SUSTAINABLE AND PARTICIPATORY
DEVELOPMENT. Economic "stabilization" and "structural adjustment"
programs imposed on client countries and their citizens by the IMF
and World Bank have failed to lead to sustained and equitable
growth or, in most cases, to increased productive investment.
Instead, they have increased external debt and caused great social,
economic and environmental destruction while further impoverishing
poor and working people. As wages and the poor's access to
resources have decreased and women, in particular, continue to be
excluded from decisionmaking concerning macroeconomic policy, they
-- and the children they support -- have been further marginalized
and impoverished. The widening gap between the rich and poor
accelerated by adjustment policies represents one of the greatest
sources of instability in the world today. The World Bank's so-
called "poverty lending" and social-investment programs do not
address the widespread and structural problems of poverty and
inequality exacerbated by adjustment programs.
"The 50 Years Is Enough" Campaign is therefore calling for:
* A HALT TO WORLD BANK AND IMF STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT PROGRAMS
AS CURRENTLY CONSTITUTED SO AS TO LIMIT FURTHER DAMAGE TO POOR AND
WORKING PEOPLE AND THE ENVIRONMENT. Non-project, policy-reform
lending should be more limited and must no longer be conditioned on
the adoption of policies designed in Washington without the benefit
of informed local input. Adjustment programs must, in fact, derive
from and support the perspectives and priorities of local
populations. Debt relief, which also should not be conditioned on
the adoption of such programs, should replace non-project lending
as the principal means of providing countries with desperately
needed foreign exchange.
* THE REORIENTATION OF WORLD BANK AND IMF LENDING FOR
ECONOMIC-POLICY REFORM TO SUPPORT DEVELOPMENT THAT IS EQUITABLE AND
SUSTAINABLE AND THAT ADDRESSES THE ROOT CAUSES OF POVERTY. To be
effective in achieving these objectives, lending for economic
reform and for parallel project investments must serve to: a)
strengthen a wide variety of productive activities of the rural and
urban poor; b) increase rather than diminish local self-reliance,
broad-based local demand, and workers' rights and wages; c) promote
broad-based sustainable food production by increasing access to
land, credit and other productive resources for small farmers and
microenterprises; d) directly address women's lack of access to
resources and decisionmaking structures and promote equity in the
development process for all disadvantaged groups; e) ensure
environmental sustainability by decreasing the rate of natural-
resource extraction, increasing regulatory oversight and promoting
end-use efficiency in the energy and water sectors; and f) allow
for increased investment in much needed physical and social
infrastructure, especially in health care, education and economic
opportunities for women and girls.
3. AN END TO ALL ENVIRONMENTALLY DESTRUCTIVE LENDING AND SUPPORT
FOR MORE SELF-RELIANT, RESOURCE-CONSERVING DEVELOPMENT THAT
PRESERVES BIODIVERSITY. The World Bank and the IMF have been
oblivious to local conditions and the longer-term implications of
their lending for the global environment, local ecosystems and
natural-resource bases, as well as for local social structures.
More than half of the Bank's $24 billion annual lending is directed
to projects and programs in the environmentally sensitive areas of
energy, agriculture, forestry and transport, and the institution's
record in these areas has been characterized by needless
environmental destruction and social disintegration. Billions of
dollars have been lent in support of projects that have turned
forests into wastelands, generated energy in a highly inefficient
and polluting manner, and displaced peasants from subsistence plots
given over to cash-crop export production. These projects have
also forced the resettlement of millions of poor men, women and
children, who now face a diminished standard of living.
Furthermore, the World Bank's environmental lending often serves to
perpetuate the externalization of environmental costs.
The "50 Years Is Enough" Campaign is therefore calling for:
* THE REORIENTATION OF ALL WORLD BANK AND THE IMF LENDING TO
ENSURE CONSISTENCY WITH THE AGREEMENTS REACHED AT THE 1992 UNITED
NATIONS "EARTH SUMMIT". All structural adjustment programs and
relevant World Bank-supported projects must take into account and
promote the objectives of Agenda 21 and the Biodiversity and
Climate Conventions and should be evaluated for consistency with
the funding policies and program priorities established under those
conventions. In addition, the World Bank and IMF must incorporate
into their planning and decision-making processes the value of
natural resources and ecosystems to be depleted and/or degraded by
their policy prescriptions and, in the case of the Bank, project-
lending portfolio.
* AN IMMEDIATE MORATORIUM ON THE PREPARATION OF ANY WORLD
BANK-SUPPORTED PROJECT INVOLVING FORCED RESETTLEMENT IN COUNTRIES
THAT DO NOT HAVE IN PLACE POLICIES AND LEGAL FRAMEWORKS THAT WILL
LEAD TO INCOME RESTORATION FOR THOSE WHO WILL BE RESETTLED. No
project involving involuntary resettlement should be considered
until there is hard evidence that alternatives have been examined,
rehabilitation measures have been created in consultation with
local communities, and monitoring systems are in place that will
ensure full compliance with World Bank guidelines. Specific
measures must be taken which will hold World Bank staff accountable
for violations of the Bank's involuntary resettlement policy. In
addition, the Bank should comprehensively provide mitigation and
restitution to those people forcibly resettled by 146 projects that
it has financed and that are already underway. It is also critical
that the Bank, in cooperation with borrower governments, prepare
economic rehabilitation programs for all the populations displaced
by projects it has funded since 1980 in violation of its policy
guidelines.
* A MORATORIUM ON WORLD BANK FUNDING FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF
LARGE DAMS. This moratorium should stay in effect until a
comprehensive review is carried out of the impact and performance
of past lending for such dams, a mechanism is established to ensure
that the findings are applied to future loan considerations, and
all conditions applying to the lifting of the moratorium on
projects involving forced resettlement are met. Furthermore,
individual projects must not be financed until a comprehensive
riverbasin management plan is in place that addresses appropriate
alternatives and that is developed and implemented with local
populations.
* SUBSTANTIAL SHIFTS IN WORLD BANK LENDING TOWARDS
ALTERNATIVE, COST-EFFECTIVE, RESOURCE-CONSERVING ENERGY, WATER-
SUPPLY, TRANSPORTATION AND SANITATION PROJECTS. Water projects
must support conservation, demand management, improved efficiency
in irrigation, the re-use of treated wastewater, the transfer of
"clean" technologies to developing countries, and the extension of
basic supply and sanitation coverage to unserved populations.
Similarly, energy lending must support least-cost investments in
end-use efficiency and conservation.
* A SHIFT IN WORLD BANK LENDING AWAY FROM AGRICULTURAL EXPORT
PRODUCTION AND OPERATIONS WHICH DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY ACCELERATE
FOREST DESTRUCTION. Agricultural lending must be fundamentally
redirected away from the current industrial agriculture model.
Rather, it should increasingly support smallholder food production
that builds on local knowledge and resources while increasing local
and household food security, local self-reliance and biophysical,
social and economic sustainability. The World Bank should extend
its commitment not to finance logging in primary moist tropical
forests to all primary forests, including temperate and boreal
forests, and should not finance activities which indirectly support
logging. The Bank must take a proactive approach to avoid adverse
effects on forests stemming from infrastructure and other
development projects and the promotion of policies that accelerate
forest exploitation.
4. THE SCALING BACK OF THE FINANCING, OPERATIONS, ROLE AND, HENCE,
POWER OF THE WORLD BANK AND THE IMF AND THE RECHANNELING OF
FINANCIAL RESOURCES THEREBY MADE AVAILABLE INTO A VARIETY OF
DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE ALTERNATIVES. Both institutions have failed
dismally in the management of programs whose ultimate goal is the
improvement of human well-being around the globe. The World Bank's
loan portfolio has seen only marginal improvement, and two programs
that it either fully or largely manages and that it finances with
taxpayers' money -- the International Development Association (IDA)
and the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) -- have been
ineffective in achieving their mandated purposes. Previous capital
increases have strengthened the World Bank's capacity and
inclination to overfund ineffective implementing institutions and
to finance large-scale destructive projects and programs void of
local input and control.
Capital and quota increases have also strengthened the power
of the IMF and the International Bank for Reconstruction and
Development (IBRD -- the World Bank's hard-loan window) to leverage
economic-policy changes against the will of local populations,
undermining more equitable, sustainable and democratic development.
The IMF continues to focus on narrow policy measures aimed at
correcting short-term balance-of-payments problems without regard
for the long-term impact of such measures, demonstrating a total
disregard for the people and environment of borrower countries.
The "50 Years Is Enough" Campaign is therefore calling for:
* THE DENIAL OF FUTURE CAPITAL REQUESTS FOR THE IBRD AND THE
IMF'S ENHANCED STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT FACILITY (ESAF). This is the
first step in downsizing the two institutions and limiting the
damage that they do. With less money available in smaller loan
packages by the World Bank, countries will be more inclined to look
inward for solutions to their respective development problems,
relying more on local efforts, resources, skills, knowledge,
creativity and commitment. At the same time, ESAF -- which was
established to expand access by low-income countries to
concessional IMF resources to support "especially vigorous
adjustment programs" -- has been underutilized, as its lending
terms are not attractive to the poorest countries and it has
promoted unproductive economic-reform programs.
* A NARROWING OF THE POLICYMAKING ROLES OF THE WORLD BANK AND
THE IMF. Given the IMF's disregard for the social and
environmental impact of its operations, other institutions in the
North, in conjunction with government ministries and
representatives of civil society in client countries, should
determine appropriate programs of economic reform that take longer-
term goals into account. The IMF's role should be restricted to
providing technical assistance on fiscal and monetary policies and
mobilizing capital and debt relief required to support the
achievement of these programs. The World Bank's role in leveraging
economic-policy reforms must also be limited, with its non-project
lending reduced to 10 percent of its total loan portfolio,
consistent with its original mandate.
* THE ESTABLISHMENT OF AN INDEPENDENT IDA, LEGALLY,
OPERATIONALLY AND FINANCIALLY SEPARATED FROM THE WORLD BANK. IDA
suffers from all the problems of the IBRD, but, because it receives
taxpayers' money from member governments, it need not be under
World Bank management to garner funds to lend to its borrowers, the
world's poorest countries. It should continue as a concessional
financing mechanism with a more democratic governing board which
has a better balance between developed and developing countries, as
well as representation from various constituencies affected by the
institution's lending. The new IDA should incorporate an
effective, full-disclosure information policy, an ombudsoffice and
an effective appeals mechanism. It could also operate a second
soft-loan or grant program, available to all World Bank borrower
countries, that would fund projects directly benefitting the poor
and requiring subsidized credit.
* THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A FULLY INDEPENDENT GLOBAL
ENVIRONMENTAL FACILITY, LEGALLY, OPERATIONALLY AND FINANCIALLY
SPLIT OFF FROM THE WORLD BANK. An official evaluation of the GEF
pilot phase has found the Facility to follow a top-down,
ineffective approach to dealing with problems related to climate
change, biodiversity, international waters and ozone depletion. A
majority of GEF projects are attached to regular World Bank loans
which are often at odds with the goals of the GEF. Full public
access to information on GEF and associated projects, guaranteed
participation of citizens' groups and affected communities during
the project cycle, and the establishment of an independent
secretariat are necessary reforms. Until these reforms are
achieved, government contributions to the GEF should be withheld.
5. A REDUCTION IN MULTILATERAL DEBT TO FREE UP ADDITIONAL CAPITAL
FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT. The international debt crisis has now
dragged on for a dozen years. The debt burden of developing
countries now stands at US$1.7 trillion, of which US$278 billion,
or roughly 17 percent, is owed to the World Bank and the IMF. The
poorest countries, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa, are simply not
able to meet their debt payments, while in many economically
better-off nations development has been stymied while interest
payments are made. Although the IMF and the World Bank have large
liquid reserves, they refuse to reduce or reschedule the debt owed
them, taking no responsibility either for projects that have failed
or for stabilization and adjustment programs that have led to
severe economic recession and an exacerbation of national debt
burdens.
The "50 Years Is Enough" Campaign is therefore calling for:
* THE IMMEDIATE CANCELLATION OF 100 PERCENT OF THE OUTSTANDING
DEBT OWED THE IBRD AND IMF BY THE SEVERELY INDEBTED LOW-INCOME
COUNTRIES AND 50 PERCENT OF THAT OWED BY SEVERELY INDEBTED LOWER-
MIDDLE INCOME COUNTRIES. The World Bank and IMF should use their
respective liquid and gold reserves (US$17 billion and US$35
billion, respectively) to write off this debt without applying
structural adjustment conditionality.
* THE WRITE-OFF OF WORLD BANK LOANS MADE FOR PROJECTS AND
PROGRAMS THAT HAVE FAILED IN ECONOMIC TERMS, PARTICULARLY THOSE
WHICH HAVE HAD SEVERE ADVERSE IMPACT ON LOCAL POPULATIONS AND THE
ENVIRONMENT. The World Bank has acknowledged a considerable number
of current projects in its portfolio as failures. The loans
already disbursed for these projects should therefore be
scrutinized by an international tribunal chosen by the Bank's Board
of Executive Directors to determine just measures of debt
cancellation and relative responsibility on the part of the Bank
and borrowers. This tribunal should also establish criteria for
determining failures among completed projects, as well as
appropriate measures of debt cancellation. Such a policy shift
would go a long way toward introducing greater accountability in
the World Bank and improve the quality of lending.
* AN INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENT TO ENSURE THAT FUTURE BORROWING
BY GOVERNMENTS FROM THE IMF AND WORLD BANK IS BASED ON THE INFORMED
CONSENT OF ITS CITIZENS TO ACCEPT AND REPAY THE DEBT. An
international convention should establish standards for future debt
obligations to be legitimate and enforceable under international
law. The convention could require: publication of basic details of
the loan agreement; availability of documents for public review for
60 days before signing; publicized, open hearings to solicit
citizen input; approval by the legislative body responsible for
appropriations; public signing of loan agreements by the
responsible officials; and the use of the loan for agreed purposes.
The IMF and the World Bank would be obligated to ensure that these
standards are met, and a loan obligation found by the relevant
court of law to be out of compliance with the standards would be
considered unenforceable.
* * *
The "50 Years Is Enough" Campaign is dedicated to increasing
the awareness of the U.S. public, the media and policymakers of the
pressing need for far-reaching change at the Bretton Woods
institutions. As the Campaign platform incorporates essential
reforms that the World Bank and IMF so far have refused to
consider, it aims at the same time to limit the power of these
institutions and to promote a public exploration of new structures
that could deliver more relevant and appropriate assistance.
As a first step in that process, the Campaign's immediate
objective is to reduce significantly the U.S. contribution to the
recapitalization of the IBRD and to ESAF at the IMF, while, in the
longer term, removing IDA and the GEF from World Bank management.
The Campaign will support the immediate reallocation of foreign aid
funds toward a greater diversity of official, non-governmental and
private assistance institutions with a better record in promoting
equitable and sustainable development.