In the fall of 2012 the World Bank began a two-year review of its safeguards policies, which are intended to ensure that its investments “do no harm” to people and the environment. Inclusive Development International has been working with civil society partners around the world to mobilize a concerted, international effort to strengthen the content and implementation of the World Bank’s policies on land rights, displacement and resettlement and to demand that Bank polices uphold the Bank’s international obligations to respect, protect and fulfill human rights.
As part of this effort, Inclusive Development International led the drafting of a joint submission on involuntary resettlement and land rights to the second phase of the World Bank Safeguards Review. The submission contains detailed comments on the draft Environment and Social Standard (ESS) 5, including recommended revisions to ensure that the new policy framework contains adequate protections to avoid the multifaceted impoverishment and human rights risks unleashed by forced displacement. It also contains a matrix setting out the dilutions of the Bank’s current involuntary resettlement policy contained in the new draft and three case studies that illustrate why the gaps in the draft must to be rectified. The submission is endorsed by Oxfam, the International Network on Displacement and Resettlement, the Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Urgewald, Share the World’s Resources and Professor Raquel Rolnik, the former UN Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing.