international-organizations

"We (United Kingdom) won't be one of the signatories today because this is a legal treaty that raises much broader issues. And we do also have concerns about President Putin being part of something that's talking about peace when we've still not seen any signs from Putin that there will be commitment to peace in Ukraine."

"Once this board is completely formed, we can do pretty much whatever we want to do. And we'll do it in conjunction with the United Nations."

"It is my Great Honor to announce that THE BOARD OF PEACE has been formed. The Members of the Board will be announced shortly, but I can say with certainty that it is the Greatest and Most Prestigious Board ever assembled at any time, any place."

"Please let this Letter serve to represent that the Board of Peace is withdrawing its invitation to you regarding Canada's joining, what will be, the most prestigious Board of Leaders ever assembled, at any time."

"People commonly think of neoliberalism as an ideology that promotes totally free markets, where the state retreats from the scene and abandons all interventionist policies. But if we step back a bit, it becomes clear that the extention of neoliberalism has entailed powerful new forms of state intervention. The creation of a global 'free market' required not only violent coups and dictatorships backed by Western governments, but also the invention of a totalizing global bureaucracy – the World Bank, the IMF, the WTO and bilateral free-trade agreements – with reams of new laws, backed up by the military power of the United States. In other words, an unprecedented expansion of state power was necessary to force countries around the world to liberalize their markets against their will. As the has known ever since the in 1842, when British gunboats invaded China in order to knock down China's trade barriers, free trade has never actually been about freedom. On the contrary, as we have seen, free trade has a tendency to gradually undermine national sovereignty and electoral democracy."

"Providing loans to member countries that are experiencing actual or potential balance-of-payments problems is a core responsibility of the IMF. Individual country adjustment programs are designed in close cooperation with the IMF and are supported by IMF financing, and ongoing financial support is dependent on effective implementation of these adjustments."

"We know that the changing climate is triggering catastrophic weather events. And we know that unless we act decisively to mitigate the causes and adapt to the changes in the climate, we are going to be in very deep trouble. So, why is this relevant for the IMF? The reason is straightforward. Our mandate is stability, growth, employment and improving in living standards. We are not going to have stability unless we address the climate crisis."

"The COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on global supply chains but new International Monetary Fund research shows that more diversification of source countries and inputs can significantly reduce the economic drag from supply disruptions."

"If it is an element of liberation for Latin America, I believe that it should have demonstrated that. Until now, I have not been aware of any such demonstration. The IMF performs an entirely different function: precisely that of ensuring that capital based outside of Latin America controls all of Latin America."

"The current crisis is both a risk and an opportunity. It would be short-sighted to go back to the economy of yesterday with its problems of growing inequality. We should look forward and take the opportunity to build a bridge to something better: a world that is fairer and more equitable; greener and more sustainable, smarter and above all more resilient."

"The concepts formulated at Bretton Woods and Havana, which brought into being the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the International Monetary Fund and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, were characterized by exchange, trade and development-financing systems based on the interests of a few dominant countries. They evolved at a time when war between the industrial countries of the West and the socialist world seemed inevitable. As always, economic interests and political interest joined forces to overbear the countries of the Third World. Our development was hampered by economic obstacles; and every time a people resolved to make a bid for emancipation, all possible means of attack were used against it. The systems in question established the rules of the trade game. They closed markets to the products of the Third World through the establishment of tariff and non-tariff barriers, through their own anti-economic and unfair production and distribution structures. They set up harmful practices and norms, fixed freight rates, and thus secured a virtual monopoly of cargo. They also left the Third World countries to watch the advance of science as outsiders and exported to us technical know-how which in many cases was simply an instrument of cultural alienation and of increased dependence. For example, in the international telecommunications system a formidable danger is implicit. Today, 75 percent is in the hands of the developed countries of the West; and of this proportion more than 60 percent is controlled by the big United States corporations, with whose policy we are familiar. I wish to point out that, in less than ten years, our community institutions and our homes will be flooded by information and publicity which will be directed from abroad by means of satellites of high transmission power, and which, unless they are counteracted by timely measures, will serve only to increase our dependence and destroy our cultural values. This danger must be averted by the international community, which should demand that control be exercised by the United Nations."

"Founding and mission: The IMF was conceived in July 1944 at the United Nations Bretton Woods Conference in New Hampshire, United States. The 44 countries in attendance sought to build a framework for international economic cooperation and avoid repeating the competitive currency devaluations that contributed to the Great Depression of the 1930s. The IMF's primary mission is to ensure the stability of the international monetary system—the system of exchange rates and international payments that enables countries and their citizens to transact with each other."

"The International Monetary Fund, or IMF, promotes international financial stability and monetary cooperation. It also facilitates international trade, promotes employment and sustainable economic growth, and helps to reduce global poverty. The IMF is governed by and accountable to its 189 member countries."

"The IMF provides technical assistance and training to help member countries build better economic institutions and strengthen related human capacities. This includes, for example, designing and implementing more effective policies for taxation and administration, expenditure management, monetary and exchange rate policies, banking and financial system supervision and regulation, legislative frameworks, and economic statistics."

"Throughout the 1980s and 90s, when many developing countries were in crisis and borrowing money from the International Monetary Fund, waves of protests in those countries became known as the "IMF riots". They were so called because they were sparked by the fund's structural adjustment programmes, which imposed austerity, privatisation and deregulation."

"When President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and other Western leaders were starting to plan for the postwar world, they had the recent past very much in their minds in other ways. They wanted to build a robust world order that would prevent the world from sliding, yet again, into another deadly conflict. The interwar years had been unstable ones, partly because the League of Nations had not been strong enough. Key powers, the United States in particular, had not joined or, like Germany and Japan, had dropped out. This time, Roosevelt was determined that the United States should be a member of the new United Nations. He was also prepared to do a good deal to keep the Soviet Union in. What had been a precariously balanced international order was put under further strain in the 1930s by the Great Depression, which encouraged countries to turn inward, throwing up tariff walls to protect their own workers and their own industries. What may have made sense for individual nations was disastrous for the world as a whole. Trade and investment dropped off sharply and national rivalries were exacerbated. To avoid that happening again, the Allies, with the Soviet Union's grudging acquiescence, created the economic institutions known collectively as the Bretton Woods system. The World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the International Trade Organization (this last did not materialize as the World Trade Organization until much later) were designed to provide stability to the world's economy and to encourage free trade among nations. How much difference these all made to the international order after 1943 will always be a matter of debate, but the world did not get a repeat of the 1930s."

"The big question today is 'Will globalisation allow democracy to survive?' On one side we have the multinationals, the International Monetary Fund and the European Union. I want to help to redress the balance on the other side."

"What happens to the political sovereignty of poor countries that do not have the infrastructure that is available in Europe and north America when they are told that, because of the debt crisis, they must open up their economies to multinational capital to do whatever it will, and when the IMF and the World bank tell them that they must cut social expenditure? They are now told that they must pursue free trade policies for farm products. Those policies add up to disaster for poor countries."

"Being told by the IMF to go easy on austerity is like being told by the Spanish Inquisition to be more tolerant of heretics."

"The International Monetary Fund (IMF) provides funds to governments which have short-term liquidity problems. The World Bank invests in infrastructural projects. Both institutions are based in Washington and are controlled by the US. The head of the World Bank is always an American, and the IMF is always headed by a European, usually French. The IMF provided resources for France and Portugal to resist challenges in their colonies, and without these funds, decolonisation would have begun earlier. In the new Third World states, the World Bank and IMF favoured those states which adopted the American model. They became powerful instruments in the hands of the US and often infl uenced private bank lending as well. When the US left the gold standard in 1971, it became easier for Third World states to access loans. The rapid rise in oil prices after 1973 made more funds available as the oil-rich states sought to invest their new-found wealth, but the Third World fell into the trap of accepting cheap loans and gradually became heavily indebted. US banks were happy to lend to Third World states assuming that Washington would bail them out if these states defaulted on their debts. The newly independent states were often dependent on exporting raw materials, but prices fell as technology advanced. The US aim was to create an international environment which promoted convergence between communism and capitalism, but the opposite occurred. Hence US policy made it more diffi cult for developing states to raise living standards as so much wealth had to be used to service debt. This, inevitably, contributed to the growth of left-wing movements."

"We can address the COVID the recovery that is necessary and we can address the climate crisis... We are committed to support our members with analytical work and through the programs we finance for an accelerated transition to a future of low-carbon climate-resilient growth... In the near term, giving priority to green investment in the recovery packages would support job-rich growth. As the economies recover, a gradual increase in carbon prices, well anchored in forward guidance, would provide much needed revenues and create a virtuous circle of adjustments in consumer behavior and new investments."

"Osama Bin Laden and George Bush were both terrorists. They were both building international networks that perpetrate terror and devastate people’s lives. Bush with the Pentagon, the WTO, the IMF and the World Bank. Bin Laden with Al-Qaeda. The difference is that nobody elected Bin Laden."

"The interests of the IMF represent the big international interests that today seem to be established and concentrated in Wall Street."

"A contradiction lies at the very centre of the neoliberal project. On a theoretical level, neoliberalism promises to bring about a purer form of democracy, unsullied by the tyranny of the state. Indeed, this claim serves as the model lodestar for neoliberal ideology - a banner under which it justifies radical market deregulation. But, in practice, it becomes clear that the opposite is true: that neoliberalism tends to undermine democracy and political freedom. More than 40 years of experimentation with neoliberalism shows that it erodes the power of voters to decide the rules that govern the economic systems they inhabit. It allows for the colonization of political forums by elite interests - a process known as political capture - and sets up new political forums, such as the World Bank, the IMF, and the , that preclude democratic representation from the outset. Neoliberalism also tends to undermine national sovereignty, to the point where parliaments of putatively independent nations no longer have power over their own policy decisions, but are governed instead by foreign banks, the , trade agreements, and undemocratic international institutions, all of which exercise a kind of invisible, remote-control power."

"The coronavirus crisis could spark huge waves of fresh migration once borders reopen, the head of the Red Cross has warned... Jagan Chapagain, said he was deeply concerned about the secondary effects of the pandemic, as border closures and Covid-19 restrictions have driven millions into poverty... Many people are already faced with the choice of risking exposure to the novel coronavirus or going hungry, Chapagain said, warning that the desperation being generated could have far-reaching consequences... Chapagain called for immediate support to relieve people’s desperation and warned that increased migration would result in numerous “tragedies along the way”, including deaths at sea, human trafficking and exploitation."

"The American Red Cross says it has an urgent need for volunteers to help in states impacted by wildfires and hurricanes. Volunteers could be needed for the next few months to help with recovery efforts. Volunteers can help fill a number of positions, including helping people who have been evacuated from their homes and placed in shelters. Red Cross workers help register the victims, give them food, and make sure they have what they need... The average volunteer assignment lasts about two weeks. The process takes about one month."

"The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is the world’s largest volunteer-based humanitarian network, reaching 150 million people each year... Together, the IFRC acts before, during and after disasters and health emergencies to meet the needs and improve the lives of vulnerable people. It does so with impartiality as to nationality, race, gender, religious beliefs, class and political opinions. The IFRC is committed to ‘saving lives and changing minds’."

"National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies embody the work and principles of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement in more than 192 countries. National Societies act as auxiliaries to the public authorities of their own countries in the humanitarian field and provide a range of services including disaster relief, health and social programmes. During wartime, National Societies assist the affected civilian population and support the army medical services where appropriate."

"As the International Red Cross marked the 75th anniversary of the atomic bombings in Japan, it issued a strong warning that “the risk of use of nuclear weapons has risen to levels not seen since the end of the Cold War.” ...defense policy experts have stated forewarnings, on both the moral grounds of potential omnicidal consequences, and of new weapons technology making nuclear war more likely. Daniel Ellsberg... sees governments “prepared to unleash a nuclear war which would end civilization as we know it and could kill over seven billion people.” In our region... many thousands are in need of food assistance, and millions across the country are suffering great personal economic losses under the dual crises of the pandemic and, again, of climate-change related wildfires and storms. As the Congress budgets nearly ¾ trillion dollars for national defense, it should redirect at least a portion of this enormous sum to the current human needs and support the 2017 United Nations nuclear-weapons-ban treaty, which the work of the International Red Cross... initiated."

"In keeping with the Third Geneva Conventions on the Treatment of Prisoners of War, the ICRC encourages detaining authorities to provide opportunities for physical exercise and for being outdoors. The ICRC therefore supported the coordination of a sporting event to involve prisoners of war population and related camp administrators."

"It's very difficult to do our job, given the security, the lack of safety and the huge demands are increasing day by day, hour by hour. We will not be able to continue our operations (IANUDIBLE) in Gaza for the next few days given the short supply in fuel."

"At this critical time, I am grateful to Sandra Bullock for once again demonstrating her leadership, compassion and belief in our global humanitarian mission. Sandra continues to enable our lifesaving work and is a model for personal generosity."

"Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg said Wednesday the foundation set up in her name would donate 150,000 euros ($175,000) to charities working to support "people on the frontlines of the climate crisis in Africa." The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, the solar power-focused NGO Solar Sister, as well as advocacy group Oil Change International, would each receive 50,000 euros ($59,000) for their efforts in Africa."

"The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is guided by seven Fundamental Principles: humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independence, voluntary service, unity and universality."

"All Red Cross and Red Crescent activities have one central purpose: to help without discrimination those who suffer and thus contribute to peace in the world."

"Lowe's Inc. announced Tuesday that it will donate $1 million to support relief efforts after Hurricane Laura caused catastrophic flooding and destruction along the Gulf Coast. As of Tuesday, the retailer has already donated $500,000 to American Red Cross Disaster Relief to help provide emergency shelter and food relief supplies to residents affected by the hurricane, as well as California wildfires and the Iowa derecho. The donations will help the "American Red Cross and other nonprofits respond to critical needs in communities impacted by recent natural disasters, including funds to provide shelter and housing," Lowe's CEO Marvin Ellison said..."

"We understand that the safe passage operations from Mariupol and Volnovakha will not start today. We remain in dialogue with the parties about the safe passage of civilians from different cities affected by the conflict. The scenes in Mariupol and in other cities today are heart-breaking. Any initiative from the parties that gives civilians a respite from the violence and allows them to voluntarily leave for safer areas is welcome. As a neutral and impartial humanitarian intermediary, we stand ready to help facilitate the safe passage of civilians once the parties have reached an agreement and that its terms are strictly humanitarian for the ICRC to be involved."

"Increasingly we are seeing in many countries the impacts [from Covid-19 crisis] on the livelihoods and the food situation...Many people are already faced with the choice of risking exposure to the novel coronavirus or going hungry... many people who are losing livelihoods, once the borders start opening, will feel compelled to move... We should not be surprised if there is a massive impact on migration in the coming months and years... The cost of supporting the migrants, during the transit and of course when they reach the country of destination, is much more than supporting people in their livelihoods, education, health needs in their own country... The virus crosses the border... it is pretty short-sighted to think that I vaccinate my people but leave everybody else without vaccination, and we will still be safe..."

"So-called humanitarian corridors or other measures aimed at providing respite to those affected by conflict must be well planned and implemented with the agreement of the parties to the conflict. Regardless of whether humanitarian corridors are implemented in the coming days, parties must continue to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure under international humanitarian law both for those who choose to leave and those who remain."

"Miss Congenialty” star Sandra Bullock is in line for a new title: Miss Generosity. The bubbly brunette actress has given $1 million to the American Red Cross for its tsunami relief effort. It’s the second time Hollywood’s girl-next-door has opened her heart and pocketbook for disaster victims. She previously gave $1 million to the Red Cross following the 9/11 terrorist strikes..."

"I know this in no way alleviates the enormous amounts of pain and loss experienced by those who have suffered from the tsunami, but I hope it can make a difference."

"Direct action enables people to develop a new sense of self-confidence and an awareness of their individual and collective power. Direct action is founded on the idea that people can develop the ability for self-rule only through practice, and proposes that all persons directly decide the important issues facing them. Direct action is not just a tactic, it is individuals asserting their ability to control their own lives and to participate in social life without the need for mediation or control by bureaucrats or professional politicians. Direct action encompasses a whole range of activities, from organising coops to engaging in resistance to authority. Direct action places moral commitment above positive law. Direct action is not a last resort when other methods have failed, but the preferred way of doing things."

"This is a disgraceful offering from Senator McConnell, who should be doing everything possible to ensure the people of this country have what we need to recover from COVID-19. The coronavirus pandemic and the deepening recession it’s causing are far from over – in fact, cases are on the rise in many states across the U.S. The Senate’s bill does nothing to address the stark inequity facing Black, Indigenous, people of color, and low-income communities that face the compound crisis of COVID-19, economic and racial injustice, and the climate crisis. As unemployment skyrockets, this bill would cut off much of the support offered thus far to everyday people struggling to make ends meet. We won’t let Congress pass a giveaway to wealthy corporations while leaving our communities out to dry without a fight."

"From policing to financial violence, the road to solving the climate crisis includes addressing connected predatory systems, We support the demand to defund and divest from the police and fossil fuels, and to reinvest in the resilience of people and planet for a just recovery.”"

"[The platform] speaks to the climate movement's commitment to justice and equity. We are holding fast to our demand for the next president to take immediate and transformative action... The compound crises of Covid-19, racial injustice, and climate change are being paid for in struggle throughout the lives and livelihoods of Black and Indigenous Peoples, and poor families on every frontline, many of whom are already surviving on mutual aid, and a unified demand that democracy delivers... From a responsive civil structure and executive, to federal agencies that provide resources and empower the people, we demand the next president commits to end fossil fuels, hold polluters accountable, and stand up for climate justice and human rights."

"In the past few weeks, several pipelines across the country have been denied or ordered to shut down, from the Dakota Access pipeline to the proposed Williams pipeline in New York. Yesterday, 350 New Hampshire staff and volunteers are excited to hear that the Granite Bridge fracked gas pipeline and tank will not be built through our Southern New Hampshire community. “I am thankful that there won’t be fracked methane gas infrastructure in my backyard of Raymond,” says Jennifer Dube, Pipeline Resistance Organizer with 350NH. “It is time for New Hampshire to invest in clean, local energy that will keep jobs and dollars in New Hampshire and grow our state’s economy. Every single thing the grassroots organizers and volunteers in our communities did made a difference, and we would not be celebrating this victory if it weren’t for them.”"

"In 2020, amidst record-breaking temperatures and the global COVID-19 pandemic, the Greenland Ice Sheet has passed the point of no return; warming oceans are bringing unprecedented double hurricanes, floods and storms throughout the Caribbean, Gulf and Atlantic Coasts; rare derechos are bringing hurricane-like conditions to Iowa and the Midwest. Year-round fires from the West Coast to Colorado are forcing people from homes, causing rolling blackouts, poisoning air and water, and threatening workers, food, and health... On Wednesday, September 9, 350 US will hold the second of four mass Solidarity School calls, during which we’ll address “Defund, Abolish & Divest: Climate, Racial & Economic Justice.”"

"The organizers running this campaign have sent a clear message to the fossil fuel industry: they cannot propose new fossil fuel infrastructure in New Hampshire on our watch. With the Granite Bridge pipeline dead, it is time to stop burning coal in New Hampshire and invest in renewable energy in order to save the health of our communities and our planet. “Fossil fuels are never the only option,” says Kai Parlett, from the 350NH Youth Team. “We won this fight, but there is so much more we need to do locally, nationally, and even globally to combat the climate crisis. We’re just getting started.”"

"After organizing global climate strike protests over the past year, Fort Worth activists were proud of their efforts to draw attention to climate issues in Tarrant County. But they didn’t want their advocacy to stop there. That’s why the environmentalists behind Global Climate Strike Fort Worth recently established a Fort Worth chapter of 350.org, an international organization focused on ending the use of fossil fuels and replacing them with renewable energy sources. The group, founded in 2008, draws its name from climate scientists’ warning that 350 parts per million is the safe limit for the amount of carbon in the atmosphere if humans seek to avoid catastrophic climate change. Among his many goals for the new chapter, 350.org Fort Worth president Chayton Creswell hopes that the group can center climate-change issues that are often secondary focuses of other local environmental organizations."

"In a statement responding to the analysis, the International Peace Bureau (IPB) also pointed to the public health crisis as evidence of the need for a worldwide shift in priorities... Sharing a SIPRI infographic, IPB co-president Philip Jennings tweeted: “The military industry complex is raking it in and we don’t feel safer. Time to halt this madness.”"