9. Oppose World Bank Overrides of Environmental,
Health and Labor Protections

WHEREAS the World Bank controls more investment capital and, together with its sister institution, the International Monetary Fund, has more economic and social policy influence in the developing world than any other institution; and

WHEREAS World Bank policies of forced privatization, user fees, fiscal austerity, deregulation and liberalization (collectively known as structural adjustment ) have undermined job security, food security , public health, and people s livelihoods for the past sixty years, with particularly harmful effects on women; and

WHEREAS the World Bank has promoted a narrowly defined export-led growth model that has widened the gap between the rich and poor globally and within countries; and

WHEREAS by keeping the governments of less developed countries dependent on new infusions of capital from high-income countries, the World Bank has reinforced an external allegiance of these governments, making them more accountable to World Bank managers than to their own people; and with policymaking in the hands of un-elected officials, there is no real chance of either meaningful development or democracy taking place in many of these countries; and

WHEREAS the World Bank refuses to cancel 100% of the debt of impoverished countries, despite the illegitimacy of the debt and its negative effects on the poor; and

WHEREAS World Bank lending for oil wells, gas pipelines, mines, and large dams has displaced millions of people and resulted in human rights abuses, impoverishment of local communities and nations and damaged the environment all over the world; and

WHEREAS the World Bank is an undemocratic institution, which makes decisions in secret and which is therefore neither accountable to the majority of people in the developing countries where it operates, nor to the taxpayers of the Canada who contribute to it directly; and

WHEREAS the majority of the resources available for lending by the World Bank come from the sale of World Bank bonds to institutional investors, including pension funds, and these resources are used to carry out the aforementioned policies and practices;

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Democratic Party of Maui County opposes cooperation with the World Bank rules which weaken or override Federal, State or Local rules protecting the environment, citizen health, public utilities and services, and labor standards.