BIC Panels Explore Challenges and Ways Forward Around World Bank-Funded Mining Projects During the recent World Bank and IMF Annual General Meetings (AGM) in Lima, Peru, BIC’s Child Rights Program co-sponsored two events to discuss the World Bank’s engagement in mining projects in Peru and their impacts on children. Along with Save the Children, BIC …
The National Union of Disabled Persons of Uganda (NUDIPU), an indigenous umbrella organization of persons with disabilities (PWDs) in Uganda working to promote the equalisation of opportunities and active participation of PWDs in mainstream development processes, has produced a video on the impact of the World Bank funded National Agriculture Advisory Services (NAADS) in Uganda …
The Disability and World Bank Safeguards Campaign, together with its Peruvian focal point organizations Society and Disability and the Peruvian Down Syndrome Society, participated in the World Bank Annual Meetings in Lima, Peru October 6-9, 2015. The Campaign was joined by Catalina Devandas, Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, to advocate for …
Picture of KEMAL JUFRI / Photo credit FERN AND ICIJ In the latest installment of “Evicted and Abandoned”, a year-long investigation into the ‘hidden toll of development’ financed by the World Bank, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, in collaboration with The Food & Environment Reporting Network, tells the story of Revan Pragustiawan, a little …
The World Bank has a complex track record with human rights and the environment. On one hand, they are one of the world’s most important development institutions, and their main goals are to eliminate poverty and boost prosperity. On the other, they have a history of sidelining the well-being of communities and ecosystems that are …
On September 30th, the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission held a hearing at the United States Congress on international financial institutions (IFIs) and human rights, chaired by Congressman Jim McGovern. Witnesses included BIC’s Nezir Sinani from Kosovo, Milton Sanchez from Peru, and Obang Metho from Ethiopia, who testified on the human rights impacts of World …
World Bank Management released a new draft for consultation (thus initiating Phase 3 of the safeguards review) despite crippling disagreement among Bank Board members, who remain divided on issues including the draft’s reference to human rights, the definition of vulnerable groups, and the use of borrower frameworks, among others.
On August 4, 2015 the World Bank publicly released the second draft of its Environmental and Social Framework (ESF), thus initiating Phase 3 of the safeguards review. The ESF contains the safeguard policies designed to protect communities and the environment in World Bank investment projects. The effectiveness of the World Bank’s new safeguards is compromised by several …
PRESS RELEASE Dangerous Rollback in Environmental and Social Protections World Bank’s New Framework Undermines President Kim’s Commitment to “No Dilution” (Washington, August 4, 2015) The World Bank has released new draft safeguard policies[i] that will vastly weaken protections for affected communities and the environment at the same time as the bank intends to finance more …
On Thursday, July 16th, 2015, the U.S. Treasury Department posted to its website the U.S. government’s position at a recent World Bank Board discussion on the revised Environmental and Social Framework (ESF). The statement highlights four cross-cutting issues that the U.S. finds particularly problematic in the newest draft of the Bank’s safeguards policies, which has not yet been released to the public.