Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Entwicklung und Humanitäre Hilfe
(13.04.2012)The undernamed organisations and individuals are appalled and dismayed by proposals to remove from UNCTAD’s mandate its distinctive central element of research and advice on the relationship between developing countries and the international economy, especially but not only in the areas of trade and finance.
Since its establishment almost 50 years ago at the instigation of developing countries UNCTAD has always been a thorn in the flesh of economic orthodoxy. Its analyses of global macro-economic issues from a development perspective have regularly provided an alternative view to that offered by the World Bank and the IMF controlled by the west.
Now efforts are afoot to silence that voice. It might be understandable if this analysis was being eliminated because it duplicated the work and views of other international organizations, but the opposite is the case – a few countries want to suppress any dissent with the prevailing orthodoxy.
