Progressive International Policy Priorities
1. More democratic and accountable international financial institutions
>Voting shares within these institutions should be reformed so as to better reflect countries’ global weight in terms of their populations and economies. No single member country should be able to veto majority decisions, nor should the advanced economy countries as a group have the 60 percent majority that they now have. This is disproportionate to their 14 percent share of world population, and since most IMF decisions are about the economic policies of developing countries, this arrangement is a vestige of the colonial era.
> Pass legislation requiring the US executive directors to use their voice and vote to oppose any agreement within an international financial institution (IFI) that imposes user fees on primary education and basic health services should be expanded to all IFIs (including the International Finance Corporation) and better enforcement mechanisms surrounding this prohibition should be established.
>IFIs should be barred from imposing procyclical fiscal and monetary policies when countries are experiencing economic downturns.
>Greater transparency is needed around the World Bank Group, Inter-American Development Bank, and Asian Development Bank loan programs that channel funding to private sector projects in countries with poor human rights records and a history of land-related social conflicts. IFIs should be required to identify end use of funds when private sector actors are involved.
>Legislation should be developed prohibiting US support for IFI-funded projects on indigenous lands that are carried out without prior consultation of local communities (with regard to countries that are signatories to ILO Convention 169 on Indigenous and Tribal).
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