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	World Bank: What’s ‘Development’ with Rights Abuses along the Way? by Human Rights Watch, OHCHR & agencies   May 2013   What’s ‘Development’ with Rights Abuses along the Way, by Jessica Evans.   The World Bank can minimize avoidable suffering, especially among marginalized, excluded, and vulnerable groups by doing a better job of protecting rights. This would only enhance the sustainability and impact of its development efforts.   A grandmother in Cambodia told me recently, “I just want you to know my story in case something happens and I am gone.” Police and government officials have threatened and harassed “Kunthea” for her protests against government agencies and appeals to the World Bank after she was forcibly evicted from her home by a private company. The World Bank’s involvement was through a land titling project which had not secured land rights for Kunthea or her neighbors. This is just one example of how the Bank’s activities can have an impact on human rights, but the Bank still insists that it has no obligation to ensure that its projects do not contribute to rights violations.   In April at the World Bank and International Monetary Fund’s 2013 spring meetings, the Bank introduced its new “vision,” in which it pledged to work toward eliminating extreme poverty and raising the income of the poorest 40 percent of the population in each country. But the “vision” included no mention of rights. As several development and human rights organizations noted in a joint statement, this “vision” will be undermined if the World Bank doesn’t start recognizing the importance of human rights for its development work.   The groups were united in their call for the World Bank President, Jim Kim, to make a firm commitment to respect, protect, and fulfill human rights in all Bank activities. The United Nations special rapporteurs on extreme poverty, indigenous peoples, the right to food, and foreign debt have made a similar call. Human Rights Watch has also done so in its “Human Rights Agenda for the World Bank.”   The World Bank can minimize avoidable suffering, especially among marginalized, excluded, and vulnerable groups by doing a better job of protecting rights. This would only enhance the sustainability and impact of its development efforts.   The Bank hasn’t always been silent on the subject. Fifteen years ago, in fact, it recognized that “creating the conditions for attainment of human rights is a central and irreducible goal of development” and that “the world now accepts that sustainable development is impossible without human rights.”   The World Bank has legal obligations to respect and protect human rights, as an international organization and a UN specialized agency. Moreover, the Bank’s member countries have specific human rights obligations that they cannot abandon when they decide whether to approve Bank lending and projects.   Some parts of the Bank and some governments contend that talk of human rights is just politics. They say that to consider such issues would violate the Bank’s “non-political” mandate. But it should be obvious that the Bank’s mandate does not authorize it to participate in violating human rights. As the Bank said back in 1998, it “has always taken measures to ensure that human rights are fully respected in connection with the projects it supports.” In practice, though, the Bank’s safeguard policies are insufficient to protect human rights.   The Bank’s resistance to adhering to international human rights law sharply contrasts with its stand on international environmental law. The Bank says it won’t support lending to projects that violate relevant international environmental treaties and agreements. So why should it be silent on complying with human rights treaties? It should take the same approach to human rights law that it does to environmental law.   The absence of a clear commitment not to support any activities that will contribute to or exacerbate human rights violations leaves staff without guidance on how they should approach human rights concerns or what their responsibilities are. The result is unfettered discretion for staff to determine the extent to which they will consider risks to human rights and whether to do anything about them. In practice, Bank efforts to protect rights appear arbitrary, inconsistent, or even nonexistent, and the people these problems affect have little or no recourse for the harm they suffered.   Kunthea in Cambodia knows first-hand the consequences of the Bank’s failure to consider the human rights impacts of its projects. By committing to human rights in all of its activities and enshrining that commitment in its safeguards policies, the World Bank will not only do a better job of protecting human rights but also of fulfilling its mandate to reduce poverty.   * Jessica Evans is the senior advocate and researcher on international financial institutions at Human Rights Watch. http://www.rightingfinance.org/?p=409   April 2013   World Bank: Guard Against Human Rights Abuses   Protecting poor people’s rights to land, food, healthcare, and education are crucial to helping them escape poverty and to ensuring the Bank’s projects do not harm people they are meant to help. By putting human rights at the heart of its 2030 vision, the Bank can ensure that its money does not fund projects that force poor people from their land.   Hannah Stoddard, head of Oxfam’s land campaign.   The World Bank’s “vision” statement will be undermined if it fails to recognize the importance of human rights, nine organizations warned. The human rights and development groups called on President Jim Kim to make a firm commitment to respect, protect, and fulfill human rights in all of its activities.   “Protecting poor people’s rights to land, food, healthcare, and education are crucial to helping them escape poverty and to ensuring the Bank’s projects do not harm people they are meant to help,” said Hannah Stoddard, head of Oxfam’s land campaign. “By putting human rights at the heart of its 2030 vision, the Bank can ensure that its money does not fund projects that force poor people from their land.   “For too long the World Bank has used the cloak of its ‘mandate’ to avoid human rights,” said Jessica Evans, senior international financial institutions advocate at Human Rights Watch. “It’s high time the World Bank makes clear that it will not support so-called ‘development’ strategies that run roughshod over rights.”   The groups are Oxfam; Human Rights Watch; CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation; Center for International Environmental Law; Bank Information Center; International Network for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; Inclusive Development International; International Accountability Project; and Bretton Woods Project.   The groups urged the World Bank to:   Make a commitment not to support activities that contribute to or exacerbate human rights violations.   Assess the human rights impacts of all World Bank activities and ensure that its safeguards are in line with international human rights standards.   Ensure that anyone harmed by World Bank-funded activities has access to effective remedy. The World Bank should take responsibility where harm occurs and take whatever measures are necessary to provide redress.   This call has been reiterated by the United Nations Special Rapporteurs on extreme poverty, indigenous peoples, and the right to food and foreign debt in their April 18 statement.   “Development should be about freedom from fear and freedom from want,” said Mandeep Tiwana, policy and advocacy manager at CIVICUS. “It is critical that the World Bank pursues a vision of development that goes hand in hand with democracy and human rights.”   http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/04/19/world-bank-uphold-rights-end-poverty-economic-exclusion http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/05/14/what-s-development-rights-abuses-along-way http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/04/19/world-bank-commit-rights-2030-vision http://www.hrw.org/topic/united-nations   April 2013   UN experts urge World Bank to adopt human rights standards   A senior group of United Nations independent experts on extreme poverty, indigenous peoples, right to food and foreign debt called on the Word Bank to adopt human rights standards this weekend, during the review of its environmental and social policies—also known as ‘safeguard policies’—which apply to project finance.   “All activities supported by the World Bank, not only its investment lending, should be included in the review to ensure consistency with international human rights standards,” the rights experts urged. “Doing so would improve development outcomes and strengthen the protection of the world’s poorest from unintended adverse impacts of activities financed by the Bank.”   The first consultation period of a two-year review of the Bank’s safeguard policies for project finance concludes this weekend. The review offers an important opportunity for broadening their scope in key areas related to human rights such as disability, gender, labour, land tenure, and the rights of indigenous peoples. The experts underscored, however, that “amendments to the safeguard policies must not dilute their force, but should build on the advances already made and strengthen mechanisms for their effective implementation.”   “Unfortunately, economic development can have negative as well as positive impacts,” said the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Magdalena Sepúlveda. “Often, the poorest of the poor do not benefit from development, or even worse, it is undertaken at their expense.”   “In order to avoid adverse impacts of development projects and maximize the benefits to the poorest and most marginalized, the World Bank should adopt a requirement to undertake human rights due diligence, including a human rights impact assessment, on all activities proposed for World Bank financing, particularly regarding the rights of the poorest and most vulnerable persons,” she underlined.   For the Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, James Anaya, “this review is an opportunity for the World Bank to heed the call of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which provides that States, intergovernmental organizations, and UN specialized agencies, including the World Bank, shall promote respect for full application and realization of, its provisions.”   “World Bank financed large-scale development projects often have an impact on land used by small-scale farmers, negatively affecting their right to food,” said the Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Olivier De Schutter.   In his view, “the updated safeguard policies must ensure that the voice of affected communities is more effectively heard, through inclusive and participatory impact assessments and through effective accountability mechanisms that provide effective remedies for any harm caused.”   The Independent Expert on foreign debt and human rights, Cephas Lumina, noted that the excuse that the World Bank is precluded by its Articles of Agreement from taking human rights into consideration in the design and implementation of its policies and projects is no longer acceptable.   “A purposive interpretation of the Articles suggests, as the former General Counsel of the World Bank opined in 2006, that the Articles allow, and in some circumstances, enjoin the Bank to recognize the human rights implications of its development policies and activities,” Mr. Lumina said. “In addition, the Bank’s own past practice indicates that it has not rigidly adhered to this injunction.”   “As a development institution and a member of the UN family, and in line with the Declaration on the Right to Development, the Bank is obligated to ensure that its policies and activities do not undermine national development priorities or imperil the achievement of sustainable development outcomes,” he said.   “This requires, among other things, that the Bank gives due weight to international human rights standards and related obligations of its member States,” stressed Mr Lumina. “We should not forget that States must also adhere to their international law obligations when they act through international organizations. The World Bank is no exception.”   http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Poverty/Pages/SRExtremePovertyIndex.aspx http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/IPeoples/SRIndigenousPeoples/Pages/SRIPeoplesIndex.aspx http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Food/Pages/FoodIndex.aspx http://www.srfood.org http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Development/IEDebt/Pages/IEDebtIndex.aspx Visit the related web page
	Independent UN panel urges action amid ongoing human rights abuses in Syria conflict by United Nations News   18 February 2013   A United Nations independent panel investigating human rights violations in Syria today called for urgent action to ensure justice for the crimes committed, adding that it will submit a list of names next month of those believed to be most responsible for the atrocities.   “The situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic has continued to deteriorate,” the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria stated in its latest report, which was released today in Geneva.   “Since 15 July 2012, there has been an escalation in the armed conflict between Government forces and anti-Government armed groups. The conflict has become increasingly sectarian, with the conduct of the parties becoming significantly more radicalized and militarized.”   The Commission – which comprises Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, Karen AbuZayd, Carla del Ponte and Vitit Muntarbhorn – has been mandated by the Geneva-based Human Rights Council to investigate and record all violations of international human rights law in Syria, where possibly up to 70,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began in March 2011.   “There is a need to act urgently to ensure that there is justice for the crimes committed,” the panel stated in its report.   “By collecting first-hand information and documenting incidents, the Commission is laying the foundation for accountability, whether at the national, regional or international levels. In March 2013, a confidential list of individuals and units believed to be responsible for crimes will be submitted to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights,” it said.   Although the Government has yet to allow the Commission to undertake investigations inside Syria, the 445 interviews conducted from 15 July 2012 to 15 January 2013 found that large parts of the country are scenes of “continuous combat, involving more brutal tactics and new military capabilities on all sides,” according to a news release on the report.   “The war has taken on sectarian overtones, permeated by opportunistic criminality, and aggravated by the presence of foreign fighters and extremist groups.”   According to the report, Government forces and affiliated militia committed the crimes against humanity of murder, torture, rape, enforced disappearance and other inhumane acts. War crimes and gross violations of international human rights and humanitarian law – including arbitrary arrest and detention, unlawful attack, attacking protected objects, and pillaging and destruction of property – were also committed.   Anti-Government armed groups have committed war crimes, including murder, torture, hostage-taking and attacking protected objects, the report continued. They continue to endanger the civilian population by positioning military objectives inside civilian areas. Where armed groups carried out bombings in predominantly civilian areas, it had the effect of spreading terror and amounted to the war crime of attacking civilians.   “The violations and abuses committed by anti-Government armed groups did not, however, reach the intensity and scale of those committed by Government forces and affiliated militia,” the panel added.   In addition, Government forces, affiliated militias and anti-Government armed groups have violated the rights of children. Incidents of children being killed, tortured and raped by pro-Government forces were recorded. Children under the age of 15 have actively participated – including as fighters – in hostilities as part of some of the anti-Government armed groups.   “Ensuring the accountability of all parties for crimes committed is imperative,” stated the Commission, which outlined a series of detailed recommendations – to the Syrian Government, anti-Government armed groups, the international community, the Human Rights Council and the Security Council – and emphasized the need to counter a “growing culture of impunity,” including through referral to the International Criminal Court (ICC).   The Commission highlighted the urgent need for the parties to the conflict to commit to a political settlement to end the violence, which has left some four million people in Syria, including at least two million internally displaced persons (IDPs), in need of humanitarian aid.   UN humanitarian agencies and their partners are reaching more and more people inside the country with assistance. Over the weekend, an inter-agency mission delivered a first batch of critical relief items to 6,000 IDPs in Karameh in north-western Idlib province, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported.   “This joint relief convoy, involving eight UN agencies, demonstrates that outreach is possible from inside Syria,” said Radhouane Nouicer, the Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for Syria. “It encourages us to continue to increase our efforts to reach more people in need across the country.”   Separately, the UN also delivered a significant quantity of medical supplies to Aleppo and much-needed winter items and hygiene kits to Hama, where recent fighting resulted in large-scale displacement in rural areas. Visit the related web page
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