Corporations Are Not Humans : Not Even Close --- Episode 68

                                                   AGENDUM FOR CHANGE

       UN INTERNATIONAL INSOLVENCY COURT{UNIIC}

Whereas the World Bank has led low-income countries ever more into the debt bondage that holds their economies and resources hostage to the predators of their global economy, the primary responsibility of the proposed UNIIC will be to help countries free themselves from this burden. A debtor government that determines its debt obligations have reached a critical level and cannot be repaid without impairing the well-being of its citizens would voluntarily initiate the insolvency procedure by presenting its case to the court. After a preliminary assessment the debtor country would be granted a stay on its repayments for a period sufficient to complete the court's review and decision process. In the meantime it would also agree to incur no new debt. 
   An assessment process would determine how much a country owes and is able to pay over time without compromising its ability to perform essential governmental functions, including the delivery of necessary social services. The Court would also review the country's debt portfolio to identify odious debts that were not legitimately contracted---which would include many World Bank and IMF loans --- or were used for purposes that yielded no public benefit---such as the World Bank designed projects that failed to produce projected benefits due to faulty design or negligent oversight. The UNIIC would sanction the repudiation of such odious debts on the basis of international legal precedents. Repudiation of World Bank and IMF loans would force them to call the guarantees from their member countries to cover their own debts, which would in turn build political support to decommission them. 
   A negotiated debt relief plan would provide for the rescheduling, reduction, and cancellation of the remaining debt on terms that would allow the indebted government to continue necessary functions, including the delivery of essential social services. Such plans would ideally take into account the implicit debt owed to the debtor country by creditor countries in the North for wealth previously extracted without proper compensation. Debt relief plans should include a schedule for freeing the country of international debt and putting in place mechanisms henceforth to keep its international accounts in balance. 

      UN INTERNATIONAL FINANCE ORGANIZATION 
                                          { UNIFO } 

Whereas, the International Monetary Fund has forced countries to deregulate the flow of money and goods across their borders and to  bear the consequences of resulting trade imbalances, international indebtedness, exploitation, and financial instability, the proposed UNIFO would work with UN member countries to achieve and maintain balance and stability in international financial relationships, free national and global finance from the distortions of international debt and debt-based money, promote productive domestic investment and domestic ownership of productive resources, and take such actions as necessary at the international level to support nations and localities in creating equitable, productive, sustainable livelihoods for all. Lacking either lending capacity or enforcement powers its functions would be limited to maintaining a central data base on international accounts, flagging problem situations, and facilitating negotiations among trading partners to correct imbalances. The UNIFO would also provide advisory services on request. Among its other functions it would facilitate the negotiation and implementation of international agreements that support joint action by national governments to prevent the use of offshore banks and tax havens for money laundering and tax evasion. 

             UN Organization For Corporate Accountability 
                                               { UNOCA }

   Whereas, the World Trade Organization regulates national and local governments to prohibit them from regulating transnational corporations, trade, and finance in the public interest, the UNOCA will assist governments in establishing sensible and appropriate regulatory regimes to assure the public accountability of international corporations and finance. To this end it will provide information and advisory services, facilitate the negotiation of relevant international agreements, and coordinate actions by national governments to break up concentrations of corporate power (especially in banking, media, and agribusiness), prevent unfair competitive practices, decharter corporations with a history of regulatory violations and repeat convictions for criminal behavior, enable persons harmed by a corporate subsidiary in one country to sue the parent company for damages in another, eliminate corporate subsidies, and prohibit corporations from attempting to influence political processes. To facilitate the process of rolling back international agreements that guarantee the right of countries and localities to : maintain balanced and mutually beneficial trading relationships with other countries ; set rules and standards for businesses---including international corporations ---operating in their jurisdictions ; prohibit the patenting of genetic materials, life forms and processes, and indigenous knowledge ; and access beneficial information and technologies from other countries on reasonable terms.