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The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank are two of the most powerful intergovernmental organisations in the world. The International Monetary Fund (IMF), which preserves receipts, payments, and currency valuation throughout the world, could contribute greatly to human rights by attaching stipulations to their loans regarding human rights, but refuse to do so. The same happens with the World Bank, but not as often as the IMF. The World Bank has had mild reforms in regards to working in human rights conditions into it's development projects, but the potential to do more for human rights is there. Both of these institutions assist countries economically or with development, so why not work on improving the human rights as well? We will look at how the IMF and the World Bank effect human rights, and how they can improve their practices.
About the IMF and World Bank
The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank are both intergovernmental institutions that were created to support the structure of the world's economic and financial order. The governments of their member nations govern each organisation, and both institutions are focused on strengthening the economies of member nations. The differences between the two are as follows. The International Monetary Fund's purpose is to preserve a regular system of receipts and payments between nations, while the World Bank, with the official name of International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, is a development institution involved in providing development projects for countries needing assistance. Both of these institutions, since they contribute much to the economies and development of each nation, have the ability to influence the governments to improve human rights as well as assist countries in need in order to repair infrastructure, stabilize economies, and provide humanitarian aid.
The World Bank is concentrating more on poverty elimination, but it does have the Social Development group, which is part of the Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development (ESSD) network of the World Bank. The purpose of the World Bank is to "promote economic and social progress in developing countries by helping to raise productivity so that their people may live a better and fuller life."i Unfortunately, the World Bank does not have a human rights policy, something that many other development institutions have. Instead, the World Bank bases it's activities on its charter, which prohibits political activities and forces the institution to consider economic projects and a slow "increase in human rights and de facto adoption of certain human rights conditionalities in its operations."ii In 1998, for the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the UDHR, the Bank published Development and Human Rights, which emphasized the important contributions of the organization in securing and promoting economic, social and cultural rights but also noted the more indirect impacts of governance lending on building a favorable environment for a "broader range of human rights."iii The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank are two of the most powerful intergovernmental organisations in the world. The International Monetary Fund (IMF), which preserves receipts, payments, and currency valuation throughout the world, could contribute greatly to human rights by attaching stipulations to their loans regarding human rights, but refuse to do so. The same happens with the World Bank, but not as often as the IMF. The World Bank has had mild reforms in regards to working in human rights conditions into it's development projects, but the potential to do more for human rights is there. Both of these institutions assist countries economically or with development, so why not work on improving the human rights as well? We will look at how the IMF and the World Bank effect human rights, and how they can improve their practices.
About the IMF and World Bank
The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank are both intergovernmental institutions that were created to support the structure of the world's economic and financial order. The governments of their member nations govern each organisation, and both institutions are focused on strengthening the economies of member nations. The differences between the two are as follows. The International Monetary Fund's purpose is to preserve a regular system of receipts and payments between nations, while the World Bank, with the official name of International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, is a development institution involved in providing development projects for countries needing assistance. Both of these institutions, since they contribute much to the economies and development of each nation, have the ability to influence the governments to improve human rights as well as assist countries in need in order to repair infrastructure, stabilize economies, and provide humanitarian aid.
The World Bank is concentrating more on poverty elimination, but it does have the Social Development group, which is part of the Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development (ESSD) network of the World Bank. The purpose of the World Bank is to "promote economic and social progress in developing countries by helping to raise productivity so that their people may live a better and fuller life."i Unfortunately, the World Bank does not have a human rights policy, something that many other development institutions have. Instead, the World Bank bases it's activities on its charter, which prohibits political activities and forces the institution to consider economic projects and a slow "increase in human rights and de facto adoption of certain human rights conditionalities in its operations."ii In 1998, for the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the UDHR, the Bank published Development and Human Rights, which emphasized the important contributions of the organization in securing and promoting economic, social and cultural rights but also noted the more indirect impacts of governance lending on building a favorable environment for a "broader range of human rights."iii Also in 1998, the Comprehensive Development Framework (CDF) "takes a holistic approach to development. It seeks a better balance in policymaking by highlighting the interdependence of all elements of development - social, structural, human, governance, environmental, economic, and financial" and the CDF acknowledges that "without the protection of human and property rights, and a comprehensive framework of laws, no equitable development is possible." iv Now the World Bank's policies have many provisions pertaining to the environment, the need for social assessments, and protection of cultural property. They are adopting a rights-based approach that takes into consideration three key areas of sustainability - environmental, economic, and social. What remains to be seen is how effective these measures are, how the World Bank will monitor the progress, and if countries are willing to adopt the measure put forth by the Bank.
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Tadoh | Mar 26th, 2004
Besides having posted some pages more than once, I must say that we are looking at financial lending institutions as a matter of fact. Now, they're mission may appear in the interest of eliminating poverty and supporting development, however that can only go so far when you consider how the lending game works. They need someone to live off of and they actually made the brightest move to only work with countries as their customers/ clients. It hardly gets any bigger than that.
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