THE ZERO POINT: THE GENESIS OF THE IMF DECOUPLING OF THE UN INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS SYSTEM - PART II -

Abstract

The international system of Human Rights (HRs) describes the principles that should guide the actions of the International Financial Institutions (IFIs). However, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) acts as if such prescriptions do not in fact exist. This paper analyzes the genesis of this decoupling, addressing the reasons that justified the signing of the 1947 Relationship Agreement; Agreement which altered the relationship between the United Nations (UN) and the IMF as it was projected on its original design. It interrelates the two perspectives. From an institutional perspective, it shows that the role of the IMF originally was not only compatible with the new HRs, but also necessary for their materialization. From an interactional perspective, it exhibits that during the first years of Fund´s existence there was a dispute over the control of its governance, which had as a background the reconfiguration of the geopolitical scenario in the nascent cold war. The triumph of the financial sectors in this dispute quickly opened a gap in the orientation of the Fund with respect to that of the UN, without which it is asserted that the content of the aforementioned Convention cannot be fully understood. By interrelating both perspectives, it explains why the promise of a new global order oriented towards the respect of HRs wrecked practically at the moment of its birth. It is argued that the Law could not preserve its autonomy in relation to the dominant groups that it had to regulate, losing in this process much of its emancipatory potential.