A/HRC/25/50/Add.1
institutions to pay enhanced attention in their activities to respect for economic, social and
cultural rights, including through the explicit recognition of these rights, assisting in the
identification of country-specific benchmarks to facilitate their promotion, and facilitating
the development of appropriate remedies for responding to violations, and to use social
safety nets to protect the poor and vulnerable in the context of adjustment programmes.13
16.
In Greece, the European Union, the European Central Bank and IMF play an
important role in the design and monitoring of the measures under the country’s adjustment
programme (see paragraphs 24 and 25 below). It may therefore be contended that these
institutions have a duty to respect the human rights of that country’s population by ensuring
that the programme does not undermine the capacity of the Government to establish and
maintain the conditions for the realization of human rights, including by assuring equitable
access to basic public services.14
III. The eeconomic adjustment programme
A.
Background15
17.
In the mid-1990s, the economy of Greece started to boom as the Government
borrowed large amounts from European banks to finance its imports, including military
equipment,16 from countries such as Germany. This process intensified with the adoption of
the euro in 2001. The Government also borrowed extensively to fund the 2004 Olympics
Games.17
18.
The Government used its enhanced access to cheap credit (as a member State of the
European Monetary Union, or euro zone) to fund public spending and offset the country’s
low tax revenues.18 It also borrowed to pay for imports that were not offset by tariffs or
exports. As a result, and despite annual gross domestic product (GDP) growth averaging
4.5 per cent in the period from 2000 to 2007, revenue declined substantially while the
budget and trade deficits increased.
19.
Widespread corruption, weak tax administration and tax evasion also put a strain on
public finances.19
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
E/C.12/1998/26, para. 515.
It should be noted the European Union and the European Central Bank are bound by the Charter of
Fundamental Rights of the European Union, which enshrines economic and social, as well as civil
and political, rights.
For a discussion of the background to the debt crisis, see Jubilee Debt Campaign, Life and debt:
Global Studies of debt and resistance, October 2013, available from http://jubileedebt.org.uk/wpcontent/uploads/2013/10/Life-and-debt_Final-version_10.13.pdf; IMF, “Greece: Ex Post Evaluation
of Exceptional Access under the 2010 Stand-By Arrangement”, IMF Country Report No. 13/156,
June 2013 (available from www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/scr/2013/cr13156.pdf), pp. 5-7; Rebecca M.
Nelson, Paul Belkin and Derek E. Mix, “Greece’s Debt Crisis: Overview, Policy Responses, and
Implications”, Congressional Research Service Report for Congress, 18 August 2011, available from
www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/R41167.pdf; and Ronald Janssen, Greece and the IMF: Who Exactly is
Being Saved?, Center for Economic and Policy Research, July 2010, pp. 1-2.
Between 2000 and 2007, military spending reached 3 per cent of GDP – the highest in Europe.
Nicole Itano, “As Olympic glow fades, Athens questions $15 billion cost”, Christian Science
Monitor, 21 July 2008. Available from www.csmonitor.com/World/2008/0721/p04s01-wogn.html.
Nelson, Belkin and Mix, “Greece’s Debt Crisis” (see footnote 15), p. 3.
Janssen, Greece and the IMF (see footnote 15), p. 1.
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