A/HRC/10/5
page 13
which very few countries are considered to have met. In addition, access to loans is subject to
conditionality, which the Marrakesh Decision recognizes explicitly by referring to facilities
extended “in the context of adjustment programmes”. Finally, there is a discrepancy between
CFF and the Marrakesh Decision: CFF is limited to cereals, whereas the Decision covers all
basic foods.
25. On 25 April 2001, a group of 16 developing countries, members of WTO, submitted a
proposal which called for, inter alia, the establishment of an Inter-Agency Revolving Fund
(RF)36 under which, in addition to technical and financial assistance to LDCs and NFIDCs for
specific projects linked to improving agricultural productivity and related infrastructure,
financing would be provided at concessional terms without requiring any justification other than
evidence that import bills were excessive. This system was conceived as self-financing:
borrowing countries would assume the obligation to repay their loans, for instance within a
period of two years. UNCTAD later elaborated on this proposal, which was included by the
WTO Doha Ministerial Conference among the implementation issues37 and led to an
Inter-Agency Panel being established to examine the issue.38 To date, there has been no
follow-up to the proposal. It is therefore to be welcomed that the Exogenous Shocks Facility
(ESF) has been revised in September 2008 in order to allow the IMF to help its members cope
with events such as commodity price changes, by including a rapid-access component in the
facility and providing concessional terms of financing, focused on the adjustment to the
underlying shock but with less emphasis than previously on broader structural adjustments.
III. IMPLEMENTATION
26. Until a few years ago, international aid was seen as a unilateral undertaking, by a donor
country, to provide assistance to a recipient country, whether through bilateral or through
multilateral channels. Now, strategies which were donor-driven are increasingly needs-driven,
and expected to be aligned with strategies developed at the level of the partner country. A human
rights framework requires that we deepen the principles of ownership, alignment and mutual
accountability, by shifting our attention to the role of national parliaments, civil society
organizations, and the ultimate beneficiaries of aid - the rights-holders - in the implementation
and evaluation of foreign aid. It is this triangulation, away from a purely bilateral relationship
between Governments, which the adoption of a human rights framework requires.
36
Proposal to Implement the Marrakesh Ministerial Decision in Favour of LDCs and NFIDCs,
G/AG/W/49, 19 March 2001, and Add.1 (23 May 2001), and Add.1/Corr.1 (27 June 2001).
37
Decision on Implementation-Related Issues and Concerns, WTO document WT/MIN(01)/17
of 20 November 2001, para. 2.2.
38
Inter-Agency Panel on Short-Term Difficulties in Financing Normal Levels of
Commercial Imports of Basic Foodstuffs, Report of the Inter-Agency Panel, WTO
document WT/GC/62 G/AG/13 of 28 June 2002.