Civil society organizations reject IMF conditionalities

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 of 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, tax amnesties to corporate sector and public services deterioration.

The return of the IMF to Latin America has been marked by the implementation of familiar austerity policies, leading to devastating economic and social impacts that populations have to pay.

It is regrettable that governments resort to the use of force and human rights violations to implement austerity policies. In practice, this proves that austerity policies are not feasible and lead to similar negative impacts in the countries where they are implemented. The social protest criminalization, through repression against indigenous people, students, women and children, resulting in the loss of human lives in Ecuador, strongly demonstrates that these polices are not the way for a solution.

The cases of Ecuador, Argentina and Haiti, illustrate the concerns that civil society organizations have raised repeatedly:

• Regressive tax reforms infringe the rights of populations, benefiting large corporations and enabling capital flight, within a global framework of unjust taxation.
• Reforms favoring labor flexibilization are measures that result on casualization of work, poor labor conditions and workers’ rights deterioration.
• Subsidy cuts directly affect the most vulnerable sectors of the population while it is not addressed the tax incentives regime for the corporate sector.
• Major economic problems are not resolved with large debts that countries will not be able to repay.
• The current financial architecture creates an unfair debt restructuring process.
• The IMF’s implementation of its criteria for exchange rate and monetary policy 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 are therefore not consistent with the SDGs.

The implementation of IMF programs at national levels, without a fundamental transformation of the international financial architecture, will continue to result into negative economic and social impacts.

This is not the way to either prevent or resolve a crisis. The IMF has to change its austerity policies. Countries need to have access to financing with sovereignty in economic policies, where the State guarantees human and civil rights, in line with the 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. OXFAM
7. Tax Justice Network (TJN)
8. IBON International
9. Society for International Development (SID)
10. International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC)
11. Global Policy Forum
12. Internacional de Servicios Públicos (ISP)
13. CDES, Ecuador
14. Fundación SES, Argentina
15. Jubilee USA, United States
16. Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability, India
17. Both ENDS, The Netherlands
18. Rural Area Development Programme-RADP, Nepal
19. Uganda Debt Network, Uganda
20. National Coalition of Civil Society Organizations of Liberia (NACCSOL), Liberia
21. Instituto del Tercer Mundo (ITM), Uruguay 
22. Urgewald, Germany
23. Jubilee Asutralia, Australia
24. Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development (ZIMCODD), Zimbabwe
25. Servicios Profesionales para el Desarrollo Rural y la Agricultura (SEDRA), Chile
26. The Equality Trust, UK
27. Equidad de Género: Ciudadanía, Trabajo y Familia, México
28. Bretton Woods Project, UK
29. Jasmine Gideon, Senior Lecturer in Development Studies, University of Birkbeck University of London, UK
30. Decidamos, Paraguay
31. Passionists International, United States
32. Attac, Austria 
33. CNCD-11.11.11, Belgium
34. Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales (CELS), Argentina
35. Corporación Centro de Apoyo Popular-Centrap/ Red de Educación Popular entre Mujeres de América Latina y el Caribe -Repem
36. Cedetrabajo, Colombia
37. Unión de Afectados por las Operaciones de Texaco, Ecuador
38. Auditoria Cidadã da Dívida – Brasil
39. Mugarik Gabe, ONG del País Vasco
40. Debt Justice Norway
41. Network for Women´s Rights and Feminist Perspectives in Development (WIDE), Austria
42. Plataforma Va por ti Ecuador, Ecuador
43. Instituto Popular de Capacitación- IPC  Colombia
44. Jubileo 2000 Red Ecuador
45. Red Intercontinental de Promoción de la Economía Social Solidaria, región América Latina y el Caribe (RIPESS LAC)
46. International Rivers
47. Movimiento Tzuk Kim Pop – Guatemala
48. Red Nicaragüense de Comercio Comunitario (RENICC) 
49. Instituto Justiça Fiscal
50. Frente de Defensa de la Amazonía FDA
51. Red Austral de Economía Popular Solidaria RAEPS (Ecuador)
52. Revd David Haslam (Chair), Dr Justin Thacker  (National Co-ordinator), Church Action for Tax Justice (UK)
53. Jamaa Resource Initiatives Kenya
54. FARN – Argentina
55. Appolinaire Nishirimbere (Mr), Initiative Citoyenne pour l’Environnement et le Developpement Durable (ICED) , Burundi
56. Servicios Ecuménicos para Reconciliacion y Reconstruccion – SERR
57. Alicia Gil Gómez, Asociación con la A
58. Global Alliance for Tax Justice
59. 11.11.11 Belgium
60. Center for Women’s Global Leadership
61. Volkshilfe Solidarität, Austria
62. Jubilee Debt Campaign, UK
63. Institute for Planetary Synthesis
64. All Win Network 
65. Debt free project
66. Advanced Media Institute