Coke’s zero tolerance for land grabs proves difficult to fulfill
(Washington, DC – Thomson Reuters Foundation) – The Coca-Cola Co has made a good start in axing land grabs from its supply chain, but it must work harder in proving that its bottlers and sugar suppliers do not violate land rights, development experts told the company. Coke declared two years ago that land grabbing is […]
Billions in “out of control” IFC investments into third parties causing human rights abuses around the world
The International Finance Corporation has little accountability for billions of dollars’ worth of investments into banks, hedge funds and other financial intermediaries, resulting in projects that are causing human rights abuses around the world. The claim is part of a new report by Oxfam, Inclusive Development International and other NGOs, released a week before the World Bank […]
World Bank chief vows stronger oversight of resettlement policies, Bank’s new ‘action plan’ follows allegations of human-rights abuses
By IAN TALLEY – The WALL STREET JOURNAL (March 4, 2015) – The World Bank is bolstering its safeguards against human-rights abuses in bank-funded projects after a scathing internal review found major failures in the development institution’s oversight of land resettlements. A yearslong review of hundreds of bank-financed infrastructure and agriculture projects in the world’s poorest […]
World Bank whitewashes Ethiopia human rights scandal
The World Bank has whitewashed damning evidence of widespread human rights abuses in connection with its flagship program in Ethiopia, Inclusive Development International said today. The evidence, obtained during the course of an internal investigation, appears to have been shelved in order to exonerate the bank and one of it biggest clients of responsibility for […]
IDI submits detailed comments on involuntary resettlement and land rights to the World Bank Safeguards Review
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 […]
Open Letter from Anuak Ethiopian Refugees to the President of the World Bank, Jim Yong Kim
Dear Mr. President, We are the Requesters, Anuak refugees and asylum seekers based in Kenya (Dadaab, Kakuma and Nairobi) and South Sudan (Gorom), who submitted a complaint to the World Bank Inspection Panel in September 2012. We have written to you twice before but we have never received a response. This is our final appeal […]
US Congress opposes World Bank plan to weaken environmental and social protections
After months of global criticism of the World Bank’s July 2014 proposal to weaken longstanding environmental and social protections, or safeguards, the US Congress has weighed in forcefully. The 2015 Omnibus Appropriations Act, which was adopted this weekend, instructs the US Treasury department to oppose any World Bank policy that provides less protection than the […]
Commencement of Cambodian ‘blood sugar’ reparations process a crucial step towards justice
Inclusive Development International welcomes the commencement of a joint EU-Cambodia process to assess displacement claims pertaining to sugarcane plantations in Cambodia. This development represents a pivotal step towards justice for thousands of Cambodian people who have suffered enormously at the hands of the sugar industry. The European Commission has announced a tender for the procurement of independent […]
Eleven Cambodian human rights defenders jailed in three days
(Civil Rights Defenders) – In the span of 72 hours, the Cambodian authorities have arrested, tried and sentenced eleven housing rights activists. They were arrested for participating in peaceful protests relating to the forced evictions around the Boeung Kak lake in Phnom Penh. The rights activists, ten women and one man, a monk, were sentenced […]
Displaced Cambodians file OECD complaint against ANZ Bank for financing massive land grab
(Phnom Penh) Inclusive Development International and Equitable Cambodia have filed a formal complaint with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) against the Australian ANZ Bank. The complaint was lodged on behalf of 681 families who were forcibly displaced and dispossessed of their land and property to make way for a sugar plantation and […]