FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Stand up against poverty: We must have a voice!

Today, September 13, GCAP marks the start of its Month of Mobilization activities, under the umbrella slogan ‘Stand Up Against Poverty: We Must Have a Voice’. The events have been timed to coincide with the Annual Meetings of the IMF and World Bank that will take place in Singapore from September 16 to 17.

The agenda of the Annual Meetings will focus on reforming the governance structures of the IMF, as well as ensuring the transparency in the selection of IMF-WB leaders.

Current governance structures limit the participation of poor countries through the low allocation of voting shares. For example, G8 countries dominate the boards of both institutions—the UK has a greater voting share than the whole of Sub-Saharan Africa. GCAP Asia Convenor Marivic Raquiza states that, “from what we have gathered, in the upcoming IMF board  meeting, there is a big chance that they will approve some increases in voting shares for middle-income countries such as Mexico, Turkey, and South Korea, but at the moment, any increase in voting shares for Africa is highly unlikely. “

GCAP will focus on ensuring the passage of reforms that will give the poor a greater voice in the decision-making processes of the IMF-WB, and in the setting of country-owned development plans that will not include IMF- imposed harmful conditionalities.

Today, September 13th, all GCAP coalitions in over 80 countries around the world will send fax messages to Gordon Brown, the Chair of the International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC), as well as to their national representatives to the Annual Meetings, to raise the clamor for transparent, merit-based leadership and for reforms in the IMF-WB voting system.

On Sept.17, GCAP Asia, in coordination with the Asia and the Pacific Movement for Debt and Development – Jubilee South, will be sponsoring the Asian Peoples Tribunal on Poverty and Debt in Batam, Indonesia, to provide a popular platform the discussion of  the impact of debt on poverty and inequality in different countries in the region.

GCAP is now  the world’s largest ever anti-poverty alliance, whose organizations represent more than 150 million people globally. Uniting its diverse array of actors is the call for the elimination of extreme poverty, through an increase in aid quantity as well as aid quality, debt cancellation and trade justice.

And in the light of the  recent denial of entry of some civil society representatives to the IMF-WB Meetings in Singapore,  and the stifling of  free and democratic expression,  Raquiza asserts that ‘Now, more than ever, our voices must be heard!’

For further information please contact:

Marivic Raquiza
GCAP Asia Convenor
0918 913 6619

Francis Isaac
Jubilee South and Freedom from Debt Coalition
0928 502 7633

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