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Article

18 Nov 2015

Author:
Nezir Sinani, Bank Information Center, on World Post

Leaked Document Reveals Internal Struggle for Human Rights Protections at the World Bank

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The World Bank's framework for assessing, preventing, and mitigating social and environmental impacts caused by its projects is currently under review…[S]ix Executive Directors (EDs) of the World Bank expressed pointed criticisms of the Bank's proposed new draft policies. The major criticism relates to human rights…Earlier this year, a major media investigation found that the Bank had physically or economically displaced 3.4 million people over the last decade and exposed many cases where poor and vulnerable communities had suffered extreme distress and human rights abuses as a result…[The EDs] write that "it is very much the responsibility of the Bank to ensure that its operations do not violate human rights."…The EDs use strong language in arguing that "it is fundamentally the Bank's responsibility to ensure that it is able to deliver on the requirements of its own policies" - in essence, responsibility for environmental and social harm caused by World Bank projects lies with the Bank. These concerns align with much of the feedback given by civil society organizations throughout the safeguards review…