WUNRN
The Women's Working Group on
Financing for Development (WWG on FfD) calls for structural, sustainable,
gender equitable and rights based responses to the global financial
crisis. The Group has developed a Declaration, at the consultation in
New York, April 24-26, and has been annexed to the Doha NGO Group
statement that has been introduced to the delegates attending the special
high-level meeting of the Economic and Social Council with the Bretton
Woods institutions, the World Trade Organisation and the UNCTAD in New
York, April 27 2009.
Women’s
Working Group on Financing for Development (WWG on FfD)*
A
Call for Structural, Sustainable, Gender Equitable
and
Rights Based Responses
to
the Global Financial and Economic Crisis
April
27, 2009
We, the Women’s
Working Group on Financing for Development (WWG on FfD), recognize
that
the financial and economic crisis represents a critical political opportunity
to make
significant
structural changes in the global development macroeconomic and financial
architecture
that reflect rights-based and equitable principles.
The
recent G-20 decision to replenish International Monetary Fund (IMF) resources
is deeply
flawed
as it perpetuates failed neoliberal economic policies, reinforces structural
inequalities,
and
will increase developing country indebtedness. Moreover it is based on an
overproduction
and overconsumption model that ignores social reproduction, sustainability of
the
resources of the planet; and is based on a few acting to the exclusion of the
many.
We need
an alternative more inclusive process not one lodged in the International Financial
Institutions
(IFIs) that have created the crisis but in the United Nations (UN), which today
is
the
only platform for genuine global dialogue and governance on global public
‘goods’;
where
women’s rights and human rights are enshrined; and where each country large or
small
has a
voice at the table.
It is
only through a more inclusive approach that the search for solutions can move
beyond
double
standards, the perpetuation of moral hazard, the inequitable distribution of
resources,
and
disproportionate burdens on the most vulnerable.
We call
on all heads of state and government to commit to constructively engage in the
High
Level
Conference on the UN Conference on the World Financial and Economic Crisis and
Its
Impact
on Development (HLC) and ensure an effective follow up mechanism.
Therefore,
we propose the following actions to respond to the current crisis with
alternative
policy
approaches that harmonize with international standards and commitments to
gender
equality,
women’s rights and human rights and empowerment.
* This
declaration emerged out of the Second Women’s Consultation convened by the WWG
on FfD
in
endorse
this statement: African Women's Development and Communication Network (FEMNET),
Agribusiness
Action Initiatives (AAI), Arab NGO Network for Development (ANND), Association
for
Women’s Rights in Development (AWID), Center for Budget Accountability and
Governance
(CBAG),
Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN), Feminist Task Force-
Global
Call to Action against Poverty (FTF-GCAP), Global Policy Forum (GPF),
International
Gender
and Trade Network (IGTN), International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC),
Medical
Mission
Sisters, Network for Women's Rights in
(TWN-A),
Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO) and Women in
Development-Europe
(WIDE). The WWG on FfD is coordinated by DAWN.
I.
Re-position the UN's leadership role in a new global development,
economic
and financial architecture that fully integrates gender equality
and
women’s rights
1.
Strengthen the authority of the UN to lead the necessary rights-based
pro-development
economic
and financial reforms, in particular responding to issues of global
macroeconomic
policy including its social and ecological dimensions.
2.
Support the HLC with
on new
foundational and structural agreements on global development, economic and
financial
governance that fully integrates gender equality and women’s human rights
based
on internationally agreed goals, including the Beijing Platform for Action, the
Convention
on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women
(CEDAW),
and International Labour Organization Conventions.
3.
Establish a globa l representative UN body that would guarantee accountability
of all
international
economic organizations, set the agenda for macroeconomic, financial and
development
cooperation reforms and management in ways that respect policy space and
country
ownership while enhancing mutual accountability for internationally agreed
goals
and
standards including those related to gender equality.
4.
Ensure that in the ongoing UN reform process, the new gender equality entity
will have
the
capacity and resources to participate meaningfully in the coordination
necessary for
development,
macroeconomic and financial governance.
II.
Immediate reform of the global financial architecture to effectively manage
liquidity
shortages and payments imbalances and ensure that policy
responses
do not shift the burden of adjustment to the care economy.
1.
Immediately create a range of alternative regional and international funding
arrangements
for
governments to meet their liquidity requirements, especially those of
developing
countries.
2.
Establish a UN Global Economic Coordination Council that is transparent,
accountable,
and
with the full and equal representation of developing countries and the
involvement of
women’s
rights and other civil society organizations.
3.
Hasten the adoption of national capital gains taxes, environment taxes, and
taxes on
financial
transactions in order to change incentive structures for profit generation and
generate
funds for programs/projects (such as increased access to health insurance and
finance)
that support impoverished women and men.
4.
Cancel the illegitimate and odious debt of developing countries and immediately
create
an
international legally binding framework for an orderly and transparent debt
audit
process
and workout mechanism with the participation of debtor governments, women's
rights
and other civil society organizations.
5.
Ensure that the UN plays a pivotal role so that developed countries fulfill
their
commitments
to increase the quantity and quality of Official Development Assistance
(ODA),
including to deal with the negative effects of the crisis in developing
countries.
Traditional
ODA and new financing must not impose any kind of policy conditionalities
including
on the basis of gender, environment and human rights.
III.
Reduce financial sector instability and arrest capital flight through
transparent
and accountable regulation
1.
Replace the IMF with a new multilateral institution that will monitor the
financial sector
to
prevent volatility, take into account the social, gendered and environmental
costs of
financial
products, and be based on a one-member-one-vote system not weighted by
monetary
contribution.
2.
Strengthen the independence, credibility and transparency of national, regional
and
international
regulatory mechanisms by moving away from free market and moral hazard
practices.
3.
Improve credit rating classification methods, governance and transparency of
credit rating
agencies,
as well as institute an oversight mechanism.
4.
Establish or strengthen national regulatory measures in the banking and
financial markets
that
are complemented by appropriate competition policy and consumer protection
policies.
IV.
Abandon neo-liberal policies governing trade and finance toward
addressing
global imbalances and social and gender inequalities
1. Set
in place national, regional, and international measures and processes that
respect
national
policy space, ensure the principle of Special and Differential Treatment and
are
consistent
with internationally agreed standards and commitments, including to women’s
rights
and gender equality. The crisis opens an opportunity to move countries away
from
the
imbalances and gaps of the World Trade Organization (WTO) regime and the failed
2.
Regain lost national policy space resulting from bilateral and multilateral
trade
agreements
by undertaking global and regional reviews of related commitments.
Mandatory
clauses in the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and Free
Trade
Agreements (FTAs) on the liberalization of trade in financial services have
been
one of
the main causes of the contagion and have contributed to the exclusion of women
from
credit services; these must be stopped and rolled back immediately.
3.
Remove agricultural goods from the Commodities Futures Market and reform trade
in
agriculture
toward protecting people’s livelihoods and right to food. Protect all
smallscale
commodity
producers from financial speculation by improving monitoring and
reporting
of market-based price risk management techniques and products.
4.
Strengthen the ability of developing countries to use a mix of trade and
investment policy
tools
necessary for them to mitigate the impact of the global financial crisis on
their real
economies.
Industrialized countries must not use their stimulus packages for subsidies
and
procurement that exacerbate asymmetries in the global trading system.
5.
Central monetary authorities must balance the relationship between price
stability and
development
goals, using counter-cyclical policies and other tools. To bridge the gap
between
micro-finance and the financial sector, they should rationalize their credit
allocation
programs in accordance with development goals with a view to upscale
financial
resources accessible to asset-poor women, small farmers, and the impoverished
thereby
ensuring decent livelihoods and the right to food.
6.
Regulate Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and multinational corporations
ensuring that
their
practices are consistent with environmental sustainability, social protection,
gender
equality,
human and labour rights and people’s livelihoods. Establish reporting standards
to
address tax evasion in the context of intra-firm trade and adopt a stronger
global
agreement
on the closure of tax havens.
V.
Recognize and value social reproduction in responding to the crisis and in
re-designing
development strategies and macro economic policies
1.
Create or strengthen automatic macroeconomic stabilizers and social insurance
systems to
help
developing economies weather the crisis. In the absence of such systems,
women’s
unpaid
labour acts as a stabilizer and increases their burden.
2.
Prioritise social infrastructure investments and not just physical
infrastructure investments
and
move beyond one-time subsidies to gender equitable job creation, social
services
provisioning
and social protection within a rights based framework.
3.
Ensure that stimulus packages feature micro finance for women who have lost
their jobs
due to
the crisis and who must be provided additional support to sustain their micro
enterprises.
Moreover governments lending programs must be accessible to poor women
who do
not have assets, particularly women farmers.
4.
Carry out gender budgeting on fiscal stimulus packages and ensure that there is
participation
and consultation with national women’s machineries and women’s groups
on all measures related to responding to the crisis.
______________________________________________________________________
By
Mirjana Dokmanovic, New York.
The
Women's Working Group on Financing for Development (WWG on FfD) calls for
structural, sustainable, gender equitable and rights based
responses to the global financial crisis. The Group has
developed a Declaration, at the consultation in New York, April 24-26, and has been annexed to the Doha NGO Group statement
that has been introduced to the delegates attending the special high-level
meeting of the Economic and Social Council with the Bretton Woods
institutions, the World Trade Organisation and the UNCTAD in New York,
April 27 2009.
The WWG on FfD calls
for more inclusive process not one lodged in the IFIs that have created
the crisis, but in the UN, where women's rights and human rights are
enshrined, and where each country, large or small, has a voice at the
table. There is now a worldwide call for heads of states and
governments to attend the June conference and agree on how to reform the
international financial architecture, and make it accountable to the wider
international development architecture. The WWG of FfD encourages women's
groups to share this statement and information on the June Conference with
the highest levels of their governments.
The
following WWG on FfD members endorsed this Statement:
African
Women's Development and Communication Network (FEMNET),
Agribusiness
Action Initiatives (AAI), Arab NGO Network for Development
(ANND),
Association
for Women's Rights in Development (AWID),
Center
for Budget Accountability and Governance (CBAG),
Development
Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN),
Feminist
Task Force-Global Call to Action against Poverty (FTF-GCAP),
Global
Policy Forum (GPF),
International
Gender and Trade Network (IGTN),
International
Trade Union Confederation (ITUC),
Medical
Mission Sisters, Network for Women's Rights in Ghana (NETRIGHT),
Third
World Network-Africa (TWN-A),
Women's
Environment and Development Organization (WEDO)
and
Women in Development-Europe (WIDE). (From WIDE, the consultation has been
attended by Luisa Antolin and Mirjana Dokmanovic.)
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