Image: Weasel Words in the World Bank Safeguards Draft (Urgewald)
The Bank Information Center, news media outlets, and other organizations have responded to the World Bank’s most recent safeguard draft (Phase 2) immediately before and since its release on July 30 2014. Here is a quick list of reactions.
Media stories:
- IRIN: Concern over World Bank proposals to roll back safeguards for indigenous people
- Daily Star: World Bank and rights of indigenous people
- Guardian: Leaked World Bank lending policies ‘environmentally disastrous’
- Reuters: World Bank review shows flaws in social, environment safeguards process
- Reuters: Change to big World Bank aid projects could cede policing to governments
- IPS: World Bank Board Declines to Revise Controversial Draft Policies (EN) (ES) (PT)
- Huffington Post: World Bank Faces Pushback Over Leaked Safeguards
- Huffington Post blog: World Bank Poised to Deny Africa’s Indigenous Peoples Their Rights
- Huffington Post blog: The World Bank’s New Environmental and Social Policies Fail to Tackle Climate Change
- Huffington Post blog: The World Bank Can’t Sacrifice the Poor to Stay in the Game
- Devex: 4 questions about World Bank safeguards
- Devex: World Bank safeguards: Pushing more money out the door at the expense of the poor?
- Think Progress: World Bank Preparing To Scrap Protections For The Environment, Indigenous People
- The Hindu: World Bank rolling back safeguards: leaked report
- New York Times: Letter to the Editor
- Mint Press:World Bank Accused Of Transferring Safeguards Responsibility To Borrowers
- Foreign Policy: Development Déjà Vu: How can the new BRICS bank avoid repeating the same mistakes and egregious human rights violations of the World Bank?
- Balkan News Agency: Albanian Government shall ask the World Bank to change its safeguard policies for women and LGBT people
- Gestión:ONG de todo el mundo piden al Banco Mundial que rechace plan que reduce protecciones ambientales
- El Comercio: Lo ambiental no les pesa a los bancos
- Chirapaq:Gobiernos estarían extentos de respetar territorios indígenas
- La Región: ¿Se viene el paquetazo ambiental del Banco Mundial?
- La Mula: ¿Qué se trae el Banco Mundial?
- Info Región: Nuevas salvaguardas del Banco Mundial pondrían en riesgo a pueblos indígenas
- Servindi: Banco Mundial prepara paquetazo anti ambiental
Press releases:
- World Bank Breaks its Promise Not to Weaken Protections for the Poor and Planet (BIC)
- World Bank: Reject Plan to Roll Back Safeguards (EN) (FR) (ES)
- World Bank turns Its back on rights protections for the poor, global civil society response gathers momentum (IDI)
- World Bank moves to undermine the rights of indigenous peoples (FPP)
- Press release on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity and Expression in World Bank safeguards
CSO statements and analysis:
- ITUC/Global Unions communiqué: Unions call on World Bank to adopt as strong a labour standard as other development banks
- CSO Statement: Significant concerns with the proposed World Bank safeguards for indigenous peoples (EN) (FR) (ES)
- CSO Statement: World Bank’s Draft Safeguards Fail to Protect Land Rights and Prevent Impoverishment (EN) (FR) (ES)
- CSO Statement: Dilutions in proposed Biodiversity standard
- Bank on Human Rights Coalition statement to Executive Directors (EN) (ES)
- ITUC: Major weaknesses in World Bank’s draft labour standards safeguard
- GenderAction: Gender Review and Recommendations on the World Bank Safeguards Draft
- BIC issue analysis
CSO Letters:
- IWGIA: Serious concerns over revision of World Bank Safeguard Policies
- Egyptian CSO Letter to Executive Director Merza Hasan (EN) (AR)
- Latin American CSO Letter to Board (EN) (ES)
- Mesoamerican CSO Letter to Executive Director Juan Jose Bravo
- Joint Indian CSO Letter to Executive Director Mukesh Prasad
- National Alliance of People’s Movements (India) Letter to Executive Director Mukesh Prasad
- Indonesian Trade Union Letter to Executive Director Sundaran Annamala
- Nepalese CSO Letter to Executive Director Sundaran Annamala
- Alyansa Tigil Mina (Philippines) Letter to Executive Director Roberto Tan
- Philippine Coalition on the CRPD Letter to Executive Director Roberto Tan
CSO web updates:
- ITUC: World Bank’s potential big step backwards on workers’ rights
- BIC: Fixing World Bank Incentives for Effective Safeguard Implementation
- BIC: The World Bank Moves to Weaken Its Protection for the Poor
- REDD Monitor: If the World Bank dismantles its safeguards, what would that mean for REDD?
- AIDA: Letter presenting Latin American civil society organizations’ concerns on the dilution of the World Bank’s safeguards policies(EN) (ES)
- AIDESEP: Documento de políticas y normas socioambientales del Banco Mundial amenazan derechos indígenas
- FUNDEPS: El Banco Mundial busca debilitar los estándares socio-ambientales en sus proyectos: Respuestas de Organizaciones de la Sociedad Civil
- Conectas: Bad Example: New World Bank Framework Rolls Back Human Rights Protections (EN) (PT)
Official documents: