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| Photo: IMF Photo |
In a joint declaration, 35 civil society organisations reject the IMF austerity policies implemented in Ecuador, Argentina and Haiti, with agreements that include the restriction of public investment, reduction of labor rights, establish tax amnesties for the corporate sector and trigger a continued deterioration in public services. This is not the way to either prevent or resolve a crisis. The IMF has to change its austerity and deregulatory structural reform policies. Countries must have access to financing with sovereignty over their economic policies and in a a way that the State can guarantee human rights, civil and political, as well as economic and social rights, in line with their Constitutions and international treaties, and with the participation of diverse sectors of society, including social movements of indigenous people, women and workers.
October 16, 2019 | GPF et al.
Declaration of Civil Society Organisations at the World Bank and International Monetary Fund Annual Meetings in light of the impacts of austerity policies in Ecuador, Argentina and Haiti
Washington D.C., October 2019
The undersigned reject the IMF austerity policies implemented in Ecuador, Argentina and Haiti, with agreements that include the restriction of public investment, reduction of labor rights, establish tax amnesties for the corporate sector and trigger a continued deterioration in public services.
The IMF’s re-engagement and influence in Latin America and the Caribbean has been marked by the implementation of now familiar austerity and structural reform policies. The impact of these policies has been devastating to the social well-being and economic prosperity of individuals and communities.
It is deeply regrettable that governments resort to the use of force and human rights violations to implement austerity policies, which may themselves be at contradictory to state human rights obligations. In practice, as the current situation in Zimbabwe proves, IMF-supported austerity policies that lead to similar negative impacts should not be implemented. The criminalization of social protest through repression of indigenous people, trade unionists, students, women and children, which has even resulted in the loss of human lives in Ecuador, clearly demonstrates that these policies are not the solution.
Civil society organizations have repeatedly raised the following social and economic concerns which are now evident in both policy and practice in Ecuador, Argentina and Haiti:
- Regressive tax reforms implemented within an unjust global tax framework infringe the rights of populations, benefiting large corporations and enabling capital flight;
- Reforms favoring labor flexibilization are measures that result in casualization of work, poor labor conditions and the erosion of workers’ rights;
- Subsidy cuts directly affect the most vulnerable sectors of the population whilst set against a regime of tax incentives most often designed to support the interests of the corporate sector over and above the interests of the public good;
- Major economic problems are not resolved with large debts that countries will not be able to repay;
- The current global financial architecture creates an unfair debt restructuring process.
- The IMF’s criteria for exchange rate and monetary policy, and its implementation by Central Banks, benefits holders of significant pools of private capital;
- Austerity policies trigger a serious deterioration in the living conditions of populations and a consequent increase in poverty, inequalities and social exclusion, and undermine the ambition reflected in the Sustainable Development Goals.
The implementation of IMF programs at national levels, without a fundamental transformation of the international financial architecture, will continue to produce negative economic and social impacts.
This is not the way to either prevent or resolve a crisis. The IMF has to change its austerity and deregulatory structural reform policies. Countries must have access to financing with sovereignty over their economic policies and where the State can guarantee human rights, civil and political, as well as economic and social rights, in line with their Constitutions and international treaties, and with the participation of diverse sectors of society, including social
movements of indigenous people, women and workers.
1. Red Latinoamericana por la Justicia Económica y Social (Latindadd)
2. European Network on Debt and Development (Eurodad)
3. Red de Justicia Fiscal de América Latina y El Caribe (RJF-LAC)
4. Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN)
5. Action Aid International
6. Tax Justice Network (TJN)
7. IBON International
8. Society for International Development (SID)
9. International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC)
10. Global Policy Forum
11. Public Services International (PSI)
12. CDES, Ecuador
13. Fundación SES, Argentina
14. Jubilee USA, United States
15. Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability, India
16. Both ENDS, The Netherlands
17. Rural Area Development Programme-RADP, Nepal
18. Uganda Debt Network, Uganda
19. National Coalition of Civil Society Organizations of Liberia (NACCSOL), Liberia
20. Instituto del Tercer Mundo (ITM), Uruguay
21. Urgewald, Germany
22. Jubilee Asutralia, Australia
23. Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development (ZIMCODD), Zimbabwe
24. Servicios Profesionales para el Desarrollo Rural y la Agricultura (SEDRA), Chile
25. The Equality Trust, UK
26. Equidad de Género: Ciudadanía, Trabajo y Familia, México
27. Bretton Woods Project, UK
28. Jasmine Gideon, Senior Lecturer in Development Studies, University of Birkbeck
University of London, UK
29. Decidamos, Paraguay
30. Passionists International, United States
31. Attac, Austria
32. CNCD-11.11.11, Belgium
33. Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales (CELS), Argentina
34. Corporación Centro de Apoyo Popular-Centrap/ Red de Educación Popular entre
Mujeres de América Latina y el Caribe -Repem
35. Cedetrabajo, Colombia
The declaration can be downloaded here.
