5. Bankrolling forest destruction. Following a disastrous history of supporting forest destruction around the world, the World Bank in 1993 adopted a policy prohibiting further direct financing of commercial logging activities in primary tropical moist forests. The Bank has not effectively enforced this policy. The Bank's solution? A revised draft Forest Policy which removes the ban and provides no new protections for forests or forest peoples.
6. Sham debt relief. With many countries in Africa paying more in debt service than they spend on healthcare, the IMF and World Bank continue with their failed debt relief program. Not only does it require "beneficiary" countries to implement harmful policies as a condition of receiving debt relief, it doesn't offer much relief. Of the first two dozen countries eligible to get relief, internal IMF/Bank analyses show that at least half will end with what are considered "unsustainable" debt burdens - and the institutions believe poor countries can send huge amounts of money out of the country in debt payments and still be "sustainable."
7. Spurring the spread of HIV. Many IMF/Bank policies disrupt social structures and facilitate the spread of HIV/AIDS. For example: With the removal of tariffs on food products and promotion of food exports, imports undermine local farmers and the shift to large-scale plantations for exports further displaces the rural population. Many men leave rural villages for work in big cities or in mines, contract HIV/AIDS from casual sex partners or sex workers, and then spread the disease to spouses in their home village. The displacement of children and young women into the cities has led to a sharp increase in commercial sex work and heightened rates of HIV/AIDS.
6. Sham debt relief. With many countries in Africa paying more in debt service than they spend on healthcare, the IMF and World Bank continue with their failed debt relief program. Not only does it require "beneficiary" countries to implement harmful policies as a condition of receiving debt relief, it doesn't offer much relief. Of the first two dozen countries eligible to get relief, internal IMF/Bank analyses show that at least half will end with what are considered "unsustainable" debt burdens - and the institutions believe poor countries can send huge amounts of money out of the country in debt payments and still be "sustainable."
7. Spurring the spread of HIV. Many IMF/Bank policies disrupt social structures and facilitate the spread of HIV/AIDS. For example: With the removal of tariffs on food products and promotion of food exports, imports undermine local farmers and the shift to large-scale plantations for exports further displaces the rural population. Many men leave rural villages for work in big cities or in mines, contract HIV/AIDS from casual sex partners or sex workers, and then spread the disease to spouses in their home village. The displacement of children and young women into the cities has led to a sharp increase in commercial sex work and heightened rates of HIV/AIDS.