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	New IMF Chief urged to reform body to Help Poor by Haider Rizvi OneWorld US   Oct. 9, 2007   Calls for substantial changes in loan conditions for poor countries are on the rise as the new International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief prepares to take office next month.   In a letter sent to the incoming IMF director general Dominique Strauss-Khan, numerous civil society groups said they want him to reshape IMF policies in developing countries burdened with foreign debt.   Strauss-Khan, a former French finance minister, has said he is willing to introduce "institutional reforms," but appears to have failed in convincing critics that his words are meant more for action than mere rhetoric.   "It is unconscionable that IMF policies force governments to siphon additional aid away from health ministries," said Marie Clarke Brill of Africa Action, a U.S.-based lobbying group leading the civil society campaign for IMF reforms.   Brill and other critics seem particularly concerned about the devastating impact of IMF policies on the response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in poor countries, especially those in sub-Saharan Africa.   The world community wants to see universal access to HIV/AIDS treatment by 2010, a target that is unlikely to be met, given the current level of spending on health and education in a number of the poorest countries.   UN officials have repeatedly warned of the impending failure to accomplish the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), although they have also indicated that some important successes have been achieved in certain areas.   The MDGs include a 50-percent reduction in extreme poverty and hunger; ensuring access to primary education for all the world''s children; reduction of child mortality by two thirds; cutbacks in maternal mortality by three quarters; the promotion of gender equality; and the reversal of the spread of HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other deadly diseases; all by 2015.   World leaders agreed in 2000 to commit the economic and political resources necessary to achieve these goals over the 15-year span, which reached its midpoint this year.   As an internal IMF report points out, between 1999 and 2005, there were as many as 29 countries in the sub-Saharan region that were forced to spend about 74 percent of additional foreign aid to pay national debts and to maintain international currency reserves.   If those countries in Africa were not obligated to follow strict IMF policies regulating debt repayment and other monetary policies, they might have been able to spend more on health and education, according to activists who signed the letter.   The IMF internal review report released last February acknowledged that in Africa its work has been confused and vague, lacked transparency, and suffered from a large gap between rhetoric and practice.   "The Fund should be clearer and more candid about what it has undertaken to do, and more assiduous, transparent, and accountable in implementing its undertakings," said the report prepared by the Independent Evaluation Office.   Covering the period between 1999-2005, the report noted that, despite "improved macroeconomics performance" in a number of African countries, there was almost no change in the share of the population living in poverty.   "The resulting disconnect has reinforced cynicism about, and distrust of, the Fund''s activities" in low-income and poor countries, the report''s authors said at the time, adding that the IMF staff "has done little to analyze additional policy and aid scenarios and to share the findings with the authorities and donors."   "They have not been proactive in mobilizing aid resources, a topic where the Board remains divided, and Fund policy -- and operational guidance to staff -- are unclear," said the authors, noting that because of those problems, social development targets were often given short shrift.   "Lacking clarity on what they should do on the mobilization of aid, alternative scenarios, and the application of poverty and social impact analysis, IMF staff focused on macroeconomics stability, in line with the institution''s core mandate and their deeply ingrained professional culture."   The civil society activists who signed the letter called for the IMF to remove obstacles for poor countries to increase spending on health, HIV/AIDS, and education, and to take immediate steps for debt cancellation.   "If Mr. Strauss-Khan is serious about IMF reforms," said Brill, "these issues must be at the top of his agenda."   Brill and others also said they wanted Strauss-Khan to take action on reforms within the first 100 days after taking charge as the new IMF head. Strauss-Khan is due to start his new job November 1.   In addition to Africa Action, major non-governmental organizations that signed the letter included ActionAid, Health GAP, Essential Action, RESULTS, and the Student Global AIDS Campaign.
	Consumers demand Responsible Corporate Behaviour by Linus Atarah Inter Press Service Finland   Helsinki, Oct 5, 2007   Corporate social responsibility is beginning to influence consumption behaviour in Finland, according to a survey published here this week.   Environmental issues and employees'' welfare were considered the most important indices of socially responsible corporate behaviour, according to the TNS Gallup survey.   Nearly three-quarters of Finns (73 percent) named each environmental protection and maintaining jobs as top priorities in assessing corporate social responsibility.   Nearly half said that whether a company behaves in a socially responsible manner has an impact on its reputation.   Thirty-five percent said a company''s commitment to social responsibility will affect their decision to buy its products, while three-quarters said that companies should be more transparent about their activities.   The poll conducted late last month was commissioned by the biggest Finnish daily Helsingin Sanomat. A total of 1,036 people aged 15 and above were surveyed.   Nearly half (46 percent) said companies should also behave responsibly in the global arena, which means observing core labour standards, respecting human rights, and avoiding the use of child labour.   Dairy products company Valio was selected as the first among 10 large companies most engaged in socially responsible behaviour. The global mobile phone giant Nokia figured fourth.   The survey announcement Oct. 2 was followed by a gathering of more than 500 business leaders and social activists at a seminar on corporate social responsibility.   The seminar jointly organised by child welfare organisation Plan and Helsingin Sanomat, was part of a campaign to raise awareness among Finnish companies to contribute in fighting global problems such as poverty, the organisers said.   "Finnish businesses have been too focused on advancing, moving forward, and making better business, they tend to forget the world beyond them," said Reetta Meriläinen, editor-in-chief of Helsingin Sanomat.   "Their awareness of global poverty always comes later in a second phase, when they have become rich enough to become actors in society. Then they realise that there are issues where they can make an impact," she told IPS.   "For a media corporation, the first corporate social responsibility is to give publicity to the problems of the world including poverty," said Meriläinen.   Critics take a dim view of corporate social responsibility undertaken outside proper regulation.   "Voluntary commitments will not help, they can in fact be harmful if they get in the way of legally binding regulation which we need," said Thomas Wallgren, senior lecturer in philosophy at Helsinki University.   A huge media conglomerate like Sanoma Corporation, owner of Helsingin Sanomat, "will do better by raising concern about the lack of public attention to the decisive difference between corporations that regulate themselves as they see fit and the democratic rule of law," Wallgren told IPS.   Teivo Teivainen, professor of international relations at Helsinki University, said corporate social responsibility only provides cosmetic dressing to take the harsh edges off capitalism. Nevertheless, it can help people think about corporations in political terms, he said.   "Talking about corporate social responsibility redefines the discourse a little bit in political terms, and that can be helpful in identifying corporations also as political actors that can bring about democratic change, instead of seeing them exclusively in economic terms," Teivainen told IPS.   Bob Geldof, the Irish rocker and political activist, acknowledged in his keynote address at the seminar that "the first moral responsibility for a company is to take in the interests of their employees, their shareholders and their customers."   But corporations also carry a moral responsibility of investing in poor countries, he said. Geldof said one reason that companies try to be socially responsible is to attract talent. "They need to have values and be able to attract kids."   Geldof told IPS later that western companies are not doing enough to tackle poverty in Africa. And unlike the Chinese, western companies have not invested enough in Africa, he said. "What was it that the Chinese saw that we missed? Where were our businessmen?"   Investing in Africa would be good in the interest of business, and also "the moral way to behave," Geldoff said. Visit the related web page
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