On December 24, 2013 the World Bank Inspection Panel published its eligibility report for the RESP-II agriculture project in Uzbekistan. The Panel stated that there were potentially valid concerns raised by the requesters about the link between the World Bank project and harm caused by widespread and systematic forced child and adult labor. The Panel …
Congressional Briefing: Human Rights at the World Bank On December 19, in conjunction with the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission of the U.S. House of Representatives, BIC was pleased to co-host a Congressional briefing on human rights and the World Bank with Human Rights Watch and the Center for International Environmental Law. The purpose of the …
On December 17, the board of the African Development Bank (AfDB) approved a new set of environmental and social safeguard policies to update and replace its decade-old policies and procedures. While civil society and indigenous groups have highlighted the glaring deficiencies in protections for Indigenous Peoples within the new safeguards framework, the new Integrated Safeguards System …
An article published this week in The Hindu as well as one published November 7 in The Times of India featured BIC researcher Simpreet Singh and his recent study on the Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP). While the Bank touts achievements of the MUTP project—including reducing congestion on city streets and improving travel time for …
On December 2-6 2013, the Facility Management Team (FMT) of the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) held a workshop in Bogota, Colombia to facilitate capacity building and exchange of experiences among South American FCPF country participants. The workshop, entitled “Social Inclusion in the Processes of Preparation of National REDD+ Strategies,” was intended to …
Press Statement December 6, 2013 ‘Stand by the truth and lead from the front’: Religious leaders tell World Bank President Calling World Bank President Jim Kim’s inaction on a scathing report on Tata Mundra power project a “disappointment”, religious leaders wrote to him an open letter (full text appended), urging him to take “bold …
Community Controlled Impact Assessment and Impact and Benefit Agreements: Relevance for upward harmonization of World Bank Group Safeguard Policies Dr. Ciaran O’Faircheallaigh, Professor of Politics and Public Policy in the School of Government and International Relations, Griffith University, Australia met with the World Bank during the week of November 18 to advocate for the inclusion …
The Disability and World Bank Safeguards Campaign recently visited the National Union of Disabled Persons of Uganda (NUDIPU), the Campaign’s key partner in Africa, and also visited two World Bank funded projects in Uganda to see how persons with disabilities were affected by these projects. The Campaign held a training with approximately 30 people for …
Following their initial press release after World Bank President Jim Yong Kim’s rejection of reported Tata Mundra violations, Indian group Machimar Adhikar Sangharsh Sangathan (MASS) sent a letter this morning reiterating their concerns. The case has received growing media and community attention since Dr. Kim rejected CAO’s findings, which held that the IFC broke its …
On November 13, 2013, nine civil society organizations from Mongolia, Europe, US and Australia submitted their initial review of the Oyu Tolgoi (OT) project’s Operational Management Plans (OMPs) to the World Bank Group Board of Executive Directors in anticipation of the Board’s November 19th technical briefing. The Oyu Tolgoi copper/gold mine in the South Gobi …