国际货币基金组织 世界银行 需要系统性改革

国际货币基金组织/世界银行：需要进行系统性改革

有缺陷的方法对权利的影响

https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/10/05/imf/world-bank-systemic-reforms-needed

斯里兰卡：国际货币基金组织贷款政策 2023 年 10 月 5 日
 
（马拉喀什）－人权观察今天发布报告称，国际货币基金组织（IMF）和世界银行年会将于 2023 年 10 月 9 日在摩洛哥马拉喀什开幕，讨论应优先考虑系统性改革，使政策与人权保持一致。 视频来说明问题。 这些改变是必要的，因为当前的政策正在加剧贫困和不平等。

这段时长五分钟的视频讲述的是生活在斯里兰卡的妇女 Shanthi，她正在努力应对该国的经济危机，以及国际货币基金组织 30 亿美元救助所附加的贷款条件，该救助使燃料和电力成本增加了一倍。 增值税。 国际货币基金组织表示，斯里兰卡在 2022 年出现债务违约，是煤矿里的金丝雀，因为有数十个政府陷入或接近债务困境。

人权观察高级经济正义研究员兼倡导者莎拉·萨杜恩 (Sarah Saadoun) 表示：“世界各地有数以百万计的人都有过像尚蒂这样的故事。” “国际货币基金组织的救助条件使已经因全球通胀和其他经济挑战而改变的生活变得更加困难。”

当尚蒂无法支付账单时，她的电力被切断了，她现在完全依靠别人来获取食物和其他基本必需品。 她失去了政府社会保障计划的重要收入，该计划自 1994 年以来一直在提供福利，此前政府在世界银行的支持下根据国际货币基金组织计划的要求对该计划进行了彻底改革。 她于 7 月份提交的新项目申请尚未收到回复。

正如人权观察组织的一份新报告所记录的那样，尚蒂的故事是一个例子，说明国际货币基金组织向数十个国家提供的贷款影响了超过十亿人，经常迫使政府以损害权利的方式削减开支和提高累退税。 人权观察还发现，国际货币基金组织应对这些影响的努力基本上无效。

为了确保经济复苏能够在短期和长期内最好地促进权利，国际货币基金组织和各国政府应停止威胁权利的紧缩政策。 他们应确保卫生、教育和社会保障支出占国内生产总值和国家预算的百分比至少达到国际基准。

该视频还展示了世界银行社会保障方法的缺点，在包括斯里兰卡在内的许多情况下，世界银行与国际货币基金组织的项目合作，旨在缓冲其影响。 尽管致力于促进全民社会保护，世界银行经常资助经过经济状况调查的项目，其资格取决于收入、资产或狭义贫困指标。 研究表明，这些计划存在高错误率、腐败和社会不信任的问题，同时错过了建立社会凝聚力和以团结和权利为基础的新社会契约的机会。

10月4日，43个人权和经济正义组织以 Right To Social Security 和 Universal Social Security 为主题标签发起一项倡议，敦促各国政府和国际金融机构致力于全民社会保障，为每个人在生命中的不同阶段提供福利。 作为经济人权方针的一部分，并结束令数亿人失望的政策。

萨杜恩说：“国际货币基金组织和世界银行认识到人们需要支持，但随后他们推行了狭隘的经济状况调查计划，这些计划无论从设计上还是由于长期高错误率，都将许多陷入困境的人排除在外。” “国际货币基金组织和世界银行需要修改其政策以支持全民社会保障。”

IMF / World Bank: Systemic Reforms Needed
New Video Illustrates Impact of Flawed Approach on Rights
https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/10/05/imf/world-bank-systemic-reforms-needed

Sri Lanka: IMF Loan Policies  October 5, 2023 
 
(Marrakesh) – Discussions at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank Annual Meetings that open in Marrakesh, Morocco, on October 9, 2023, should prioritize systemic reforms to align policies with human rights, Human Rights Watch said today in releasing a video to illustrate the concerns. The changes are needed because current policies are compounding poverty and inequality.

The five-minute video features Shanthi, a woman living in Sri Lanka who is struggling to cope with both the economic crisis in the country and the loan conditions attached to a $3 billion bailout from the IMF that increased the cost of fuel and electricity and doubled value-added taxes. Sri Lanka, which defaulted on its debt in 2022, is the canary in the coal mine as dozens of governments are in or near debt distress, the IMF has said.

“Millions upon millions of people around the world have stories like Shanthi,” said Sarah Saadoun, senior economic justice researcher and advocate at Human Rights Watch. “IMF bailout conditions make lives already upended by global inflation and other economic challenges even harder.”

Shanthi’s electricity was cut when she was no longer able to pay her bill and she now relies entirely on others for food and other basic necessities. She lost critical income from a government social protection program that had been providing benefits since 1994 after the government overhauled it in line with a requirement in the IMF program, with World Bank support. She has yet to receive a response to her application for a new program that she submitted in July.

Shanthi’s story is an example of how IMF loans to dozens of countries, affecting over one billion people, frequently push governments to cut spending and raise regressive taxes in ways that harm rights, as a new Human Rights Watch report has documented. Human Rights Watch also found that the IMF’s efforts to address these impacts are largely ineffective.

To ensure economic recovery that best advances rights in the short and long term, the IMF and governments should halt austerity policies that threaten rights. They should ensure that spending on health, education, and social security meet, at a minimum, international benchmarks as a percentage of GDP and national budgets.

The video also demonstrates the shortcomings of the World Bank’s approach to social security, which in many cases, including Sri Lanka, works in tandem with IMF programs with the intention of cushioning their impact. Despite a commitment to promote universal social protection, the World Bank often funds programs that are means-tested, for which eligibility hinges on income, assets, or narrow poverty indicators. Research shows that these programs suffer from high error rates, corruption, and social mistrust, while missing the chance to build social cohesion and new social contracts anchored in solidarity and rights.

On October 4, forty-three human rights and economic justice organizations began an initiative, under the hashtags #RightToSocialSecurity and #UniversalSocialSecurity, urging governments and international financial institutions to commit to universal social security, which provides benefits to everyone at various times in their life course as part of a human rights approach to the economy, and end policies that have been failing hundreds of millions of people.

“The IMF and World Bank recognize that people need support, but then they promote narrow means-tested programs that—both by design and due to chronically high error rates—exclude many people who are struggling,” Saadoun said. “The IMF and World Bank need to revise their policies to support universal social security."