world vs bank: a public hearing
Faced with widespread criticism, the World Bank is losing its legitimacy. The Bank is increasingly condemned for exacerbating poverty instead of reducing it, for imposing harmful economic policy conditions, for causing environmental devastation, conflict, and flouting local people’s rights.
The year 2007 was a critical one for the Bank, as it sought to orient itself under a new president, and because this year donor governments negotiated replenishing Bank funds. To step up pressure for change, the World Bank Campaign Europe was created, backed by a coalition of more than 70 NGOs in Europe, including numerous Friends of the Earth groups and FoEI.
On October 15 2007, Friends of the Earth International and Eurodad, with the World Bank Campaign Europe, organised WORLD vs BANK, a Public Hearing in The Hague, under the auspices of the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal. The prestigious five-member expert panel included a former inspection panel member, a Brazilian policy analyst, a Ghanaian development economist, an Italian senator, and a prominent Indian social activist. They heard the testimonies of six witnesses from Africa, Latin America, and Central Asia, and assessed the World Bank’s performance over the last 15 years.
For example, witness Miguel Palacin, of Peru’s National Coordination of Mine Affected Communities, described the effect of World Bank's recipe for mining reform in Peru, testifying that “… campesino leaders, members of the local Catholic Church and activists of environmentalist NGOs are object of pursuit and threats to their integrity and their life by private security bodies linked to the mining company.… because of the single fact that they defended the rights to their territory and to choose their own development model.” While the witnesses spoke, an artist created beautiful images on the basis of the testimonies.
The Public Hearing was streamed live on the internet, enabling the whole world to follow it on-line. The event received extensive public exposure, worldwide media attention, and strengthened the interlinkages between environment and development campaigning on the World Bank. A witnesses from the National Consumer Defence Network in Nicaragua said after the Hearing, “I had no idea this kind of solidarity existed in Europe.”
The Hearing also resulted in a wealth of information and documentation, and a strong declaration with recommendations for European governments. Looking to the future, this evidence is a great asset to continue the campaign to hold governments accountable for the World Bank's activities.
more information:
Read the experts' biographies and their findings
Get your free DVD of the Hearing or watch the short trailer
Order your own World vs Bank t-shirt
with thanks to our funders: ncdo, the wallace global fund and the c.s. mott foundation
