International debt conference report urges reform of World Bank and International Monetary Fund
Episcopal News Service. September 26, 1996 [96-1570]
(ENS) Human concern, as well as economic principles, should guide the money lending policies of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, according to a report released in August by the Anglican Communion Office at the United Nations.
Established by the Bretton Woods Conference at the end of World War II, the two organizations were designed to assist poor countries to develop their economies and become trading partners with the West.
Building on a May conference on "A Christian Response to the International Debt Crisis," the report urges the two organizations to pursue policies "strongly based in principles of fairness, justice, such that they must preserve the moral integrity and sanctity of human life."
Unfortunately, the report observes, the organizations' policies have instead "at times magnified underdevelopment in a number of countries around the world, even at a time when globalization has brought new opportunities and economic success to other countries."
While suggesting specific reforms, the report's tone is "very positive in its orientation," said the Rev. Dr. Johncy Itty, associate for human rights at the Anglican Communion Office. "It's saying, 'Yes, reforms are taking place. Some of the reforms haven't been focused enough.' And it's pointing out that there is much more to do."
"In spite of recent changes," the report notes, "structural adjustment and reform programs still too often give too little attention to human needs, poverty reduction and protection of vulnerable groups, especially to basic health, nutrition and education of young children, young people and their families."
The conference itself, held at the Episcopal Church Center in New York, took a collaborative rather than confrontative approach, Itty said, and was attended by representatives of both the financial organizations. Speakers included theologian Gustavo Gutierrez of Lima, Peru, Sabine O'Hara of Rennsylear Polytechnical Institute, Herman Daly of the University of Maryland, and Bishop James Ottley, Anglican observer at the United Nations.
The conference was sponsored in part by General Theological Seminary and other seminaries in the New York region, and the Episcopal Church's Peace and Justice Ministries. Participants included academics and church representatives, as well as members of the Anglican Peace and Justice Network attending an annual international gathering.
Among other recommendations, the report urges greater public accountability and involvement in the organizations' lending practices, as well as greater sensitivity to social and ecological effects. It also calls for selective use of "debt relief," or the forgiving of debt "on a case-by-case basis as a direct means to improve the human, social, and environmental conditions of a country."
"We would emphasize that it is neither new nor inappropriate for the church to speak out for human concerns and economic policy," the report observes. "From the earliest days of the Old Testament, the churches have expressed concern with the impact of debt on the poor and weak -- and called for remedial action. Economic policy always needs to be judged by the deepest of ethical standards, even if at times, current economic orthodoxy appears to neglect this."
Itty reported that most responses to the report have been "very favorable that churches are involved in these issues." An educational program may be developed, he said, to "rewrite this information in a form that parishes might use" to teach their members "how the international economy affects them, how it affects unemployment, how it affects trade."
Dividing their annual meeting between Washington D.C. and New York to take advantage of the debt conference, members of the international Anglican Peace and Justice Network used their gathering as an opportunity to compare notes on their individual work.
"It's the kind of feeling that you've got friends out there," said Bishop Michael Hare Duke, retired bishop of St. Andrew's, Scotland. "Life can feel pretty isolated. It also helps to be in touch with someone else who might help make things happen."
Reports at the meeting touched on situations in countries around the world, including Burundi, Myanmar, Korea and the Sudan. In Washington, Robert E. Rubin, secretary to the treasury, briefed the group on the economic impact of the international financial organizations. And in New York, the members participated in the plenary sessions of the debt conference.
Hare Duke noted that "it was heartening to learn of the concern of the World Bank and IMF to resolve the debt, to hear of their proposals to provide a way out of the unsustainable burdens that some of the worst-hit countries now carry." Those proposals, he said, and the thrust of the debt conference itself emphasizing human need, were not just exercises in sentimentality "but good political and business sense."