UN mechanisms address "inaccurate statement" made by World Bank on concept of 'broad community support'

Credit: World Bank

As part of the so-called Third Phase of consultations on the revisions to its environmental and social safeguard policies, the World Bank held a meeting in February 2016 in Addis Ababa on its proposed indigenous peoples policy, known as ESS7. The meeting was attended by representatives from several governments, including South Sudan, Kenya and Tanzania, as well as UN mechanisms on indigenous peoples and two civil society organizations.

Following the meeting, the Bank drafted a summary document of what was discussed, claiming expressions of "broad acceptance" among the participants in regard to a few different issues. One of these issues was free, prior and informed consent (FPIC). According to the Bank, there was "broad acceptance that the outcome of the FPIC process needed to be operationally defined consistent with the current approach under OP 4.10 where the outcome is broad community support."

On 20 May 2016, the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, the Chairperson of the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and the Chairperson of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (collectively the UN Mechanisms) wrote a letter to Bank President Jim Kim clarifying that the summary document was inaccurate. The UN Mechanisms noted that "it was never the objective of the [meeting] to generate interpretive comments on international standards. … Hence, it cannot be concluded that there was 'broad acceptance' among the participants of defining the outcome of FPIC as 'broad community support'" (emphasis in original).

Although the clarification is an embarrassing one for the Bank, the letter does more than simply correct a mistake. The UN Mechanisms express serious concern regarding the use of the term "broad community support", or BCS, in ESS7 in regard to FPIC. They note that BCS "is an ambiguous concept with no legal basis under international law" and that the Bank's own internal review on the implementation of its existing indigenous peoples policy shows that BCS "has failed to ensure good faith consultation leading to outcomes" that guarantee respect for indigenous peoples' rights. The letter notes a number of additional problems with the concept of BCS and discusses the principle of FPIC more broadly. It calls on the Bank to "adhere to its international responsibilities and support FPIC over BCS in the final version of ESS7."

The letter by the UN Mechanisms come as the final draft of the new environmental and social safeguard policies goes to the Bank Board of Directors for review and approval. It is anticipated that the new safeguard policies will be approved later in 2016.

UN Human Rights Experts Reject World Bank's Proposed Replacement of Safeguard Policies

Anyone following the ongoing update to the World Bank's environmental and social safeguard policies (safeguard policies) would do well to read the 12 December 2014 letter to Bank president Jim Yong Kim from the special procedures mandate-holders of the United Nations Human Rights Council (special procedures). According to the special procedures, contrary to President Kim's repeated reassurances, the draft Environmental and Social Framework (ESF) is a dilution of the safeguard policies they are supposed to replace.

While the special procedures address several issues, they make three critical points:

First, the special procedures note that while the international community has accepted that development must respect human rights, the Bank is "an increasingly isolated outlier" in failing to commit to human rights requirements in the draft ESF. Second, they refute the Bank's oft-repeated claim that taking human rights considerations seriously will put the Bank at a competitive disadvantage. Not only does the Bank's view accelerate a race to the bottom, it is also irrelevant given that human rights are a matter of legal obligation. This relates to the special procedures' third point, which is that not only is the Bank bound by international law; so too are the Bank's 188 member states, all of which have ratified at least one of the core international human rights treaties. The Bank has a "due diligence responsibility" not to be complicit in states' violations of their human rights obligations.

13th Session of UNPFII: African Caucus responds to the World Bank on the Safeguard review process

Mr Kanyinke Sena delivers the African Caucus' response

The African Caucus would like to raise the following two issues of concern in regards to Indigenous peoples of Africa.

First, Indigenous peoples in Africa are alarmed with new developments unfolding in the World Bank safeguard review process. Recent statements made by Mark King, Head of Safeguard Review, suggest that the World Bank is reluctant in applying its ‘Stand- alone policy for Indigenous peoples’ in Africa due to the concerns raised by a few governments in relation to the term ‘Indigenous’.

Natural Justice Attends Side Event During UN GA on the Role, Protection and Effective Participation of Human Rights Defenders in Development

On 29 October 2013, Eli Makagon attended a side-event held by the International Service for Human Rights at United Nations headquarters in New York. The side-event, held during the UN's ongoing 68th General Assembly meeting, was entitled The Role, Protection and Effective Participation of Human Rights Defenders in Development, and brought together panelists, including Margaret Sekaggya, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders and Pavel Sulyandziga, Chair of the UN Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises, to discuss the issues. The panelists noted that very often, human rights defenders are people from Indigenous and local communities who are facing threats from large scale development. Among other things, Mr. Sulyandziga noted that international financial institutions such as the World Bank Group are an important factor in ensuring that the rights of Indigenous peoples are respected, as many of the major corporations involved in development are attempting to obtain loans from those institutions. Ms. Sekaggya reported that there were some positive developments, such as Australia's mining assessment initiatives and Columbia's national hydrocarbon agency assessment, as well as the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (link).

Natural Justice Submits Letter to US Secretary of the Treasury Regarding World Bank Safeguard Policies

Natural Justice, along with several other organizations, endorsed a July 1, 2013 letter to US Secretary of the Treasury Jacob Lew regarding the ongoing review and update of the World Bank safeguard policies. The letter asks Secretary Lew, who is responsible for the management of the United States’ interests in the World Bank, to support four threshold issues during an upcoming World Bank Board meeting on July 23, 2013 where the safeguards review will be addressed. These threshold issues include: The safeguard policies and procedures, to avoid weakening, must continue to be based on mandatory, detailed, enforceable, time-bound requirements; the Bank’s Board needs an informed basis for making decisions on the scope of application of the safeguard policies; the review must continue to focus attention on the emerging areas identified by the Bank; and the updated safeguards must be accompanied by a detailed implementation plan.

World Bank Steps Up Discussions with Indigenous Groups at this Year's UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues

Photo Credit: UNPFII

During this year’s Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues the World Bank engaged with Indigenous Peoples in a number of formal and informal sessions. Formally these engagements took place during plenary sessions of the Permanent Forum and informally during side events and organized dialogues. The size of the World Bank's team attending the Forum, which came up to 30 people in comparison to just a handful during last year's event, demonstrates the increased relevance the institution places on recognizing indigenous peoples as an important constituent in its work. 

The World Bank’s most important item of engagement was the review process with respect to its social and environmental safeguards that the World Bank is currently undertaking, which include a policy on indigenous peoples (Operational Policy 4.10). As the current policy was drafted in 2005, many of the numerous comments made by Indigenous Peoples during the discussions related to a demand to bring the policy in line with the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP 2007), including the right to free, prior and informed consent (FPIC). Furthermore, representatives called on the World Bank to not only examine the impact of UNDRIP on OP 4.10 but on all of the Bank’s policies.  It was highlighted that the importance of updating OP 4.10 cannot be overestimated, as in 2012 alone the safeguards were triggered by 20% of all World Bank projects, not including projects where they potentially should have been triggered but were not.

World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty Stresses Land Governance

Photo: World Bank

From 8-11 April 2013, the World Bank Group held its annual World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty in Washington, DC. The theme for this year’s conference was “Moving towards transparent land governance: Evidence-based next steps” and stressed the importance of land governance and its relationship to agriculture productivity and food security. The conference aimed to share good practices and advance reforms in six thematic areas:

• Securing land rights and improving land use at the grassroots; 
• Adjusting laws and institutions to address urban expansion and governance; 
• Innovative approaches towards spatially enabling land administration and management;
• Supporting a continuum of rights in a decentralized environment; 
• Mobilizing the private sector to improve land governances; and 
• Sharing benefits from exploitation. 

PULP Book on Balancing Economic and Environmental Interests in Africa

As economic growth rates are increasing across Africa, questions and challenges around balancing ‘development’ with environmental protection are gaining significance. To consider how different nations across Africa are addressing these challenges, the Pretoria University Law Press has released a book through the World Bank-funded Rule of Law in Africa Project entitled "The Balancing of Interests in Environmental Law in Africa" edited by Michael Faure and Willemien du Plessis. The book  combines the contributions of academics from 17 African nations on the way in which environmental and economic interests are balanced in their respective nations. Each country analysis in the book is presented according to a common framework to improve the comparability of the various nations’ approaches. The book also contains a critical comparative analysis by the editors. 

Find the abstract and information on ordering a hard copy of the book here. Download the book directly here.

Guide to Investing in Locally Controlled Forestry

The Growing Forest Partnership initiative, in partnership with the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation, the International Institute for Environment and Development, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, The Forests Dialogue and the World Bank, has released a “Guide to Investing in Locally Controlled Forestry” authored by Dominic Elson. 

Per the press release, the guide “emerged out of 11 international dialogues that assembled more than 400 people to discuss how to make investing in locally controlled forestry (ILCF) happen. It is a primarily a tool for practical action – providing guidance on how to structure enabling investments and prepare the ground for asset investments that yield acceptable returns and reduced risk, not only for investors, but also for local forest right-holders, national governments and society at large. After providing strong justification for this approach, the guide sets out a framework for structuring investments with tactical advice for building the partnerships necessary for successful ILCF.” 

Read more about the guide here. Download the guide directly here.

Oxfam Briefing Note on Land Purchases in 'Developing' Nations

Via www.oxfamblogs.org

As vast swathes of land in ‘developing’ nations are purchased by foreign investors, Oxfam has prepared a carefully researched briefing note on the impact of these purchases. The briefing note highlights the fact that almost two-thirds of the land purchased from 2000-2010 was purchased in nations with serious hunger challenges while two-thirds of foreign purchasers intend to export everything produced on the land. 

The note emphasises that Oxfam does not oppose investments in agriculture, especially when they target smallholder producers, but notes that “the unprecedented rush for land has not been adequately regulated or policed to prevent land grabs. This means that poor people continue to be evicted, often violently, without consultation or compensation.” The note concludes by urging the World Bank to temporarily freeze investments involving large-scale land deals until it can review “advice to developing countries, help set standards for investors, and introduce more robust policies to stop land grabs.” 

An Oxfam blog post on the briefing note can be found here, and the full note can be found here.