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Members of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee have released a letter sent to U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew calling on Treasury to take the lead in opposing proposed dilutions of the World Bank’s environmental and social safeguard policies. The World Bank is in the final stages of drafting a new set of safeguards that are inconsistent with U.S. law and policy, and which stand to role back key protections for communities and the environment that have been in place for decades.
Senators Barbara Boxer, Benjamin L. Cardin, Robert Menendez, and Edward J. Markey reminded the Treasury Department of the legal requirements mandated by recent Appropriations Acts that require the U.S. to vote against any weakening of World Bank environmental and social protections, and to vote against all projects proposed by the World Bank under weakened safeguards.
The letter calls attention to substantial problems with the World Bank’s plans to oppose any proposed projects under a diminished system of safeguards, including:
- weakened mechanisms for transparency, oversight, and accountability, public comment;
- less robust due diligence requirements for the use of borrower systems in place of Bank requirements;
- reduced coverage for displaced peoples, biodiversity, forest-dependent peoples and financial intermediaries;
- reversal of the ban on the destruction of critical habitat, protected areas and nature reserves;
- increased barriers for affected communities to access the Inspection Panel.
The Senators urge Secretary Lew to “maintain U.S. leadership at the World Bank to prevent the dilution of existing protections and ensure that strong mandatory and legally-binding safeguards are put in place and implemented, protecting our investments as well as social and environmental interests.”