A/HRC/34/57 women, who dominate this sector, are likely to be more heavily affected 53 and austeritydriven cuts in childcare and education services may render the participation of women in the labour market more difficult.54 39. Other adverse effects concern the quality of the public service. Reductions in public servants’ salaries can affect productivity in the public sector, 55 which, in turn, lends itself to an argument for privatization or additional wage cuts. In Côte d’Ivoire, reductions in teachers’ salaries, as recommended by IMF and the World Bank, appear to have had a negative impact on education quality, owing to cross-border brain drain.56 40. Finally, IMF and World Bank-sponsored adjustment programmes have, in some cases, been associated with violations of civil and political rights. For example, since the 1950s in Argentina, IMF programmes have repeatedly been accompanied by violence against trade unions opposing labour market-related measures, involving, among others, crackdown on protests and imprisonment of union leaders. 57 In numerous countries, the effects of austerity policies have led to protests and riots, 58 often accompanied by the disproportionate use of force by law enforcement officials against demonstrators and resulting in violations of civil and political rights. 59 IV. Challenging conventional wisdom: economic effects of labour standards 41. The above findings are not only problematic from a human rights perspective, but, as will be shown below, the assumption that labour rights are generally detrimental to economic development has been vigorously challenged at the theoretical level and refuted by empirical data. Evidence that austerity-related labour market reforms have contributed to economic recovery after debt-related economic crises is weak. Sometimes it appears that debt crises have rather provided a pretext to push through labour market reforms favouring business interests rather than addressing economic problems. It is therefore not surprising that debt crises frequently exacerbate economic inequality. 60 A. Economic effects of labour standards in general 42. Whether higher protection of workers through labour legislation increases or reduces economic efficiency has been controversial for some time. According to conventional 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 14 In Portugal the gender gap regarding unemployment was even found to be reversed, see Tindara Addabbo and others, “Gender and labour in times of austerity: Ireland, Italy and Portugal in comparative perspective”, International Labour Review, vol. 154, No. 4 (2015), pp. 458-459. On the adverse impacts of debt and lending policies on women, see also A/67/304. Guy Standing, “Structural adjustment and labour market policies: towards social adjustment?”, in Guy Standing and Victor Tokman, eds., Towards social Adjustment. Labour market issues in structural adjustment (Geneva, ILO, 1991), p. 30 with further references. Kato Gogo Kingston, “The impacts of the World Bank and IMF structural adjustment programmes on Africa: the case study of Cote d’Ivoire, Senegal, Uganda and Zimbabwe”, Sacha Journal of Policy and Strategic Studies, vol. 1, No. 2 (2011), p. 118. Margaret Conklin and Daphne Davidson, “The I.M.F. and economic and social human rights: a case study of Argentina, 1958-1985”, Human Rights Quarterly, vol. 8 (1986), pp. 255-257. See John Walton and Charles Ragin, “Global and national sources of political protest: third world responses to the debt crisis”, American Sociological Review, vol. 55, No. 6 (1990), p. 877. On Argentina, see Margaret Conklin and Daphne Davidson, “The I.M.F. and economic and social human rights: a case study of Argentina, 1958-1985” (note 57 above), pp. 255-257. See A/HRC/31/60.