More than 500 organisations and academics from 87 countries have issued a statement today calling on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to stop promoting austerity and instead support policies that advance gender justice, reduce inequality, and put people and planet first.

The IMF has already begun locking some countries into long term austerity-conditioned loans, while encouraging countries to take such recovery measures through its short-term, front loaded emergency financing packages. Such policies will further entrench gender and economic inequality and undermine any chance of an inclusive recovery, especially as many countries in the Global South are expected to need more long-term financing in the near future.

We are please to invite to attend their join side event during the Civil Society Policy Forum at the 2020 IMF-WB Annual Meetings, entitled:  “The Role of IFIs in a World of Intersecting Conflicts and Crises”.

This session will assess IFIs’ policies in contexts of crises and conflicts, mainly in the Arab region, by examining the existing policies and their impact on inequality. It aims also to look into countries with ongoing IMF negotiations, in light of country specific contexts, such as the economic failure in Lebanon and the inability to negotiate, and the case of emergency lending in Egypt. Finally, it will assess IMF policies on a regional level as they relate to the effect of the pandemic.

Our current civilization could have emerged only thanks to suitable climatic conditions which arose with the end of the last ice age about 10 000 years ago. A stable and favourable climate enabled people to settle, build settlements, engage in agriculture, and develop technically and culturally. Approximately 200 years ago, the discovery that it was possible to obtain energy through burning fossil fuels led to an industrial revolution, to a further acceleration of technical progress, and to a huge increase in the world’s population as well.

The virtual launching event of the Spotlight on Susainable Development 2020 took place on Friday, 18 September 2020.

If you missed it, you can watch the recording on youtube now. The details are below.

Multilateral solidarity is gaining traction as the slogan for mobilizing support for international cooperation and for the UN. Is it replacing or merely renaming cross-border obligations - many of which have been enshrined over decades in UN treaties, conventions and agreements, and the principle of common but differentiated responsibility in their implementation?