September 2006
We the undersigned representatives from civil society organisations and
social movements call for a boycott of the official programme at the World Bank
and IMF 2006 annual meetings in Singapore.
In order to stifle dissent and any possible protests at the IMF-World Bank
Annual Meetings, the Singapore Government has resorted to draconian security
measures. These include the Singapore Government's statement in January that
protesters at the IMF and World Bank meetings would be caned, and the special
surveillance measures in public and private spaces that the government has put
in place specifically for the Annual Meetings.
In recent days, the Singapore Government has also applied pressure on the
government of Riau Province in Indonesia to cancel the International People’s
Forum scheduled to take place in Batam.
The government has also drawn up a "blacklist" of individuals who
will not be allowed access to Singapore. These include civil society
representatives who have already been accredited by the World bank-IMF to the
Annual Meetings, as well as those who have already obtained visas, or require
no visa to enter Singapore. The Singaporean government has advanced no clear or
valid reason for denying these people access, nor has it publicly released the
“blacklist.” .
The IMF and World Bank cannot escape responsibility for recent
developments. Knowing full well the authoritarian character of the
Singaporean Government, they appear to have picked Singapore as the site of
their Annual Meetings because they wanted to avoid the legitimate and peaceful
street protests that have been staged at earlier World Bank-IMF and World Trade
Organization meetings. The choice of Singapore as a venue for the annual
meetings has been consistently criticised by civil society organizations, yet
the World Bank and IMF went on with their plans. We condemn the Singapore
Government’s repressive actions, and we also condemn the World Bank and the IMF
for being complicit in these actions.
In solidarity with those denied entry into Singapore and denied the exercise of
their fundamental rights to freedom of expression and association, we will stay
away from all meetings and seminars in the official programme at the World Bank
and IMF 2006 annual meetings in Singapore.
We call on all social movements, civil society organizations and networks, and
individuals to uphold the rights of peoples to freedom of expression and
association, and to honour this boycott by staying away from the official
meetings in Singapore.
Signatories: (Please sign on)
INFID Indonesia
Freedom from Debt Coalition Philippines
Jubilee South
Focus on the Global South
Solidarity Africa Network
Campagna per la Riforma Della Banca Mondiale (Reform the World Bank Campaign –
Italy
World Development Movement, UK
Jubilee USA Network
50 Years is Enough: U.S. Network for Global Economic Justice
European Network on Debt and Development
Greenpeace
Friends of the Earth International
Oil Watch International
What you
can do
1. Endorse
the statement at http://www.focusweb.org/content/view/1069/27/ or by sending email to:
This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it
2. Please
circulate this to other civil society groups that are attending.
3. Please do
NOT release news of this boycott ahead of time. It will be much more effective
if it is released by multiple groups in a coordinated manner.
4. Please
inform us if you were organising meetings or speaking at meetings and plan to
cancel them. Send information to:
This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it
|
