|
Some 500 activists gathering in Batam grouped under the
International Peoples Forum called Monday on all nations to hold
international financial institutions (IFIs) such as the IMF and World
Back fully accountable for the social impact they have on developing
countries.
"We call on the governments, members of the World Bank and the IMF
Board of Directors, to keep these institutions fully accountable for
their impact on human rights, equity, and the sustainability of
development," Ravindranath of the Jubilee South said representing the
forum.
"We find the World Bank and IMF responsible for policies and actions
that lead to the intensification of poverty and deprivation, the
undermining of national sovereignty and democratic governance, and the
subversion of the right to development," he added.
The forum contended that IMF and World Bank policy advice and loans
have constricted the ability of developing countries to craft their own
development paths and that trade liberalization was at times oversold
as an antipoverty strategy which often resulted in unintended fiscal
consequences and social costs.
"We stress the urgent need for 100 percent cancellation of multilateral
debt, transparent and participatory external audits of IFIs lending and
policies, prevention of the imposition of policy conditions that
undermine economic sovereignty and exacerbate crisis in health and
education, discontinuing the privatization of public services and
ending IFI involvement in environmentally destructive projects,"
Ravindranath said.
The world's major financial leaders have long implicitly acknowledged
the shortcomings of the two institutions. One example was the statement
of Robert Rubin when he tenured as the U.S. Secretary of Treasury back
in the late nineties, saying that governments had to modernize the
architecture of international finance.
The current internal reform agenda rolled by the IMF clearly shows how
the institution is trying to cope with a legitimacy crisis.
Yet, many activists in the forum including key figures such as Walden
Bello, a professor and an author on political economics, see the reform
merely as an agenda to "discipline" emerging economies in Asia,
especially China, with whom many developed countries have suffered a
trade deficit.
The forum successfully demonstrated to the world how the diverse civil
society organizations were able to voice their in-depth criticism in a
peaceful and civilized manner.
In contrast to the peaceful event, while hosting the IMF-WB meet, the
Singaporean government has demonstrated security measures that have
been deemed as a violation of human rights.
Reports and testimonies received by the forum indicate that at least 54
individuals were banned from entering Singapore or merely transiting
before going to Batam for the forum. Not all of them were activists, as
some were merely guest speakers scheduled to present materials for the
many sessions in the forum.
Testimonies revealed that these people were detained at the Changi
Airport -- some were even subjected to custodial interrogation for 38
hours and harsh treatment.
As a response, the forum plans to take legal action against the alleged
unlawful treatment and has proposed a plan to launch a massive
propaganda program promoting a global economic boycott of the
city-state.
The forum has yet to decide on the form of the boycott or legal action.
|
