On February 22nd, a three-day consultation on the World Bank’s social and environmental safeguards policies began in Washington, DC. Safeguards policy consultations provide a space for civil society and government officials to discuss the proposed safeguards draft with World Bank representatives. The consultation in DC is one of over thirty such meetings taking place in cities around the world.
Mort Halperin, Senior Advisor at the Open Societies Foundation (OSF), provided an introduction to the views of DC-based civil society organizations, commenting that:
In all candor, the clearest and strongest sentiment that we share is one of deep disappointment tinged by the hope that it is still not too late to get it right.We hoped for and expected significant advances and were promised that there would be “no dilution” of the current Safeguards as they are updated. While the current draft reflects some improvements over the previous version, it does not come close to meeting our aspirations or the “no dilution” commitment. We deeply regret that the Bank has not yet seized the opportunity to develop Safeguards that reflect the shared values of its members and the needs of people in developing countries. I urge you to seize this moment.
Mort Halperin’s full comments are available here.