Voices from the field 1

Global debt architecture violates human rights

La Via Campesina Ecuador

Currently, Ecuador holds a loan of 8.705 billion dollars with the International Monetary Fund, making it the fourth most indebted country globally. In the 23rd agreement between Ecuador and the IMF, the loan is described as supporting Ecuador’s policies to stabilize the economy and safeguard dollarization. It also aims to advance a structural reform agenda.

However, peasant, Indigenous, and civil society organizations have questioned the loan and warned of the impacts of the measures and conditions imposed by the IMF. Among the main agreements are the elimination of fuel subsidies, hourly labour, a new tax reform, and other conditions.

We affirm that this global debt architecture violates human rights, plunging peasants, Indigenous peoples, and the entire working class into poverty and indebtedness. We also denounce that we are facing a wave of criminalization, stigmatization, and persecution, intensified by our struggle and resistance in defence of a dignified life. Many leaders and social movement representatives are being prosecuted and are at risk, while complex measures loom that will carry an extremely high social cost.

Voices from the field 2

IMF and World Bank have intensified the push to privatize land in Sri Lanka

Anuka Vimukthi MONLAR, Sri Lanka

Two days before the September 2024 presidential election, Sri Lanka was forced to sign a debt restructuring agreement with international creditors—without public discussion or parliamentary debate. This secretive deal prioritized debt payments over the rights and well-being of our people.

For years, international financial institutions have pushed Sri Lanka toward export-oriented agriculture through structural adjustment programs. These reforms have favoured agribusinesses and capital-intensive farming, leaving us—peasants and small fishers—dependent on markets for seeds, fertilizers, nets, and boats, eroding our autonomy and food systems. 

Now, under the 17th IMF program, the burden of economic stabilization has fallen on the poorest. Austerity measures, including cost-recovery energy pricing, have nearly tripled fuel and electricity costs, devastating livelihoods. Increased taxes on equipment and inputs have driven many peasant farmers into poverty and debt.

The IMF and World Bank have long pushed for privatized land markets. With this latest program, their demand has returned, raising fears of mass land dispossession. 

As a member of MONLAR, I am part of a growing movement resisting these unjust measures. We are intensifying our campaign and urging the government to recognize food sovereignty and the rights of peasants and rural workers as central to Sri Lanka’s agricultural and economic policy.

Voices from the field 3

Kenya’s default on its debt obligations led to free trade agreements that criminalize peasants

Susan Owiti, Kenyan Peasants League 

Kenya has a massive public debt; the country’s debt-to-GDP ratio was around 68% in 2024.

Currently, the Kenyan government’s debt servicing obligations consume about 48% of the national budget and around 55% of the country’s income. This directly impacts peasants, as funds that were meant to support Peasant Rights in Kenya are being redirected to service debts. 

It also means that households are forced to borrow to survive and even pay for services that have been privatized. Rising costs, mounting debt, and severe pressure from lenders are pushing households into a deepening crisis. Farmers, who are trapped in the conventional agricultural system that relies on pesticides and fertilizers, are falling further into debt as the state removes or cuts all subsidies and incentives. In the absence of state planning or support for a meaningful agroecological transition, many peasants are left at the mercy of the market which consistently fails them. 

Kenya’s default on its debt obligations led to the negotiation of free trade agreements that promote laws criminalizing the peasant way of life, such as the Mung Bean Bill, (criminalizing unlicensed cultivation of green gram), or the Seeds and Plant Varieties Act. Another example is the ongoing US-Kenya Strategic Trade and Investment Partnership, which included conditions such as the lifting of the ban on GMOs.

Voices from the field 4

Argentina: food sovereignty is being pushed aside

Diego Montón, Argentine Indigenous Peasant Movement, MNCI Somos Tierra

 In March 2025, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved a restructuring of Argentina’s debt, illegally granting it 20 billion dollars. This adds to the 41.052 billion USD it lent in 2018. 

Argentina’s debt represents 30% of the IMF’s total loans, making it the main debtor. The debt accounts for nearly 10% of the gross domestic product: it is unpayable. We ask ourselves, why does the IMF keep lending to Argentina? Laura Richardson, head of the U.S. Southern Command, stated at an Atlantic Council event, “Latin America is key because it has water, food, oil, and 60% of the world’s lithium.” Javier Milei enacted an investment regime (RIGI) that grants broad benefits to financial capital, without taxes or regulations. The head of the IMF, Kristalina Georgieva, urged Argentinians to vote to continue in that direction. 

Beyond the restructuring brought by each agreement with the IMF, the debt forces states to enable extractivism. The only path Argentina has today is to organize and struggle to repudiate the IMF debt and move together toward food sovereignty, economic independence, and social justice.