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friends of the earth
international
press release
world bank group postpones consultation
after ngo protest
BERLIN - The World Bank Group today
decided to postpone a consultation meeting
scheduled for Wednesday after Friends of the
Earth and others announced it would protest
publicly about the meeting. The German
development ministry informed Friends of the
Earth that the consultation was postponed
because of the ‘announced boycott by
non-governmental organisations’.
The Berlin meeting was to be one in a
series of consultations for a revision
process of the International Finance
Corporation (IFC), the World Bank’s private
sector lending arm, which Friends of the
Earth believes will weaken social and
environmental standards.
The Berlin consultation followed
consultations in London today and earlier
meetings in Washington, Rio de Janeiro, Tokyo
and Manila where Friends of the Earth member
groups boycotted the consultations and staged
protests. The decision to postpone the
meeting in Berlin came only hours after a
meeting in London was attended by only one
civil society organization and German
organizations announced a protest action for
Wednesday.
Friends of the Earth International, the
world’s largest environmental federation,
rejected invitations to the meetings after
the World Bank refused to act upon a civil
society letter demanding basic process
requirements for the consultation
meetings.
“This whole consultation process is a
sham. There is too little time and too little
information available. The meetings are
effectively no more than a World Bank public
relations exercise. They provide no venue for
meaningful consultation, especially for those
most affected by IFC operations”, said
Friends of the Earth/BUND spokesperson,
Markus Steigenberger in Berlin.
The World Bank Group’s binding set of so
called Safeguard Policies, which cover issues
such as pollution and treatment of indigenous
peoples, were established to protect people
and the environment from harmful impacts of
its projects. The policies will be replaced
with voluntary ‘Performance Standards’. The
IFC itself acknowledges that its proposals
could become a benchmark for both private and
public financiers.
“The IFC is sacrificing its social and
environmental norms to meet industry
demands’, said Mr Steigenberger. “But they
are supposed to protect people and the
environment. How can the World Bank Group
justify weakening rather than improving its
social and environmental standards?”
Friends of the Earth and other
organizations have proposals to improve the
policies and practices of the IFC. These
proposals include that the standards should
be strong, clear and binding, that local
people should be able to have a decisive say
in projects and that the IFC should be
subject to international law.
More information:
The IFC review process:
http://www.ifc.org/ifcext/policyreview.nsf/Content/SafeguardPolicesUpdate
Civil society concerns with the process
and suggestions to the IFC:
http://www.grrr-now.org/?action=showdoc&typedoc=1&menu=24
Contact:
In Berlin:
Markus Steigenberger (BUND/ Friends of the
Earth Germany): + 49 173-9234747
In Amsterdam:
Janneke Bruil (Friends of the Earth
International): + 31 6 52 118 998
In London:
Hannah Ellis (Friends of the Earth England,
Wales and Northern Ireland):
+ 44 7952 876929
In Manila:
Lodel Magbanua (LRC/Friends of the Earth
Philippines): +63 2 9281372
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