Demanding Accountability: Response to Reports of a Child Sexual Abuse Cover Up at the World Bank
*This statement was sent to World Bank president Ajay Banga and its board of directors. We received a response from IFC head Makhtar Diop, which is available here. Our response to that letter is available is here. The undersigned organizations are gravely concerned about the recent media report of child sexual abuse at Bridge International […]
Experts call on Supreme Court to reverse decision protecting IFC’s absolute immunity
(Washington, DC) – On Tuesday, nine NGOs and experts filed an amicus brief before the US Supreme Court in support of the Indian fishing communities and farmers who are challenging the International Finance Corporation (IFC)’s claim to absolute immunity in Jam v. IFC. The amici call for the Supreme Court to reverse the lower court’s decision, […]
Major Breakthrough in Mediation Between Hoang Anh Gia Lai Company and Fourteen Indigenous Villages
(Siem Reap) – A major breakthrough was reached in the mediation between fourteen Cambodian indigenous communities and the Vietnamese rubber firm Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAGL), during meetings held this week in Siem Reap, Cambodia. On 15-19 September 2015, community representatives of fourteen indigenous villages affected by HAGL’s land concessions in Ratanakiri province, company representatives of HAGL and its subsidiaries, and the communities’ advisors, including Inclusive […]
Time for a mind shift at ADB on displacing the poor
Every year, millions of people around the world are forcibly displaced from their lands, homes and livelihoods to make way for large-scale development projects. Most often those who are forced to sacrifice their place on Earth for both public and private interests are among the poorest and most vulnerable people in society, and thus the […]
Response Letter to World Bank President Jim Kim Regarding IFC Investment in the Financial Sector
This letter was written to respond to a World Bank reply on April 18 to a March civil society letter regarding the audit of the International Finance Corporation’s lending to the financial sector. IDI, along with the over 50 groups that signed on to the letter, believe that the IFC’s response is inadequate and […]
Propaganda mill at full tilt
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has posted a short video on its website about the resettlement impacts of the Cambodian railway rehabilitation project it is financing. Rattling off numerous improvements to people’s living conditions, the three-minute video portrays the resettlement process as a resounding success, benefiting poor Cambodian families who are now, or will be, […]
Promoting a human rights approach to development of Cambodia’s land sector
In May 2012, IDI partner Equitable Cambodia and the Heinrich Boll Foundation published A Discussion Paper on a Human Rights Approach to Development of Cambodia’s Land Sector, authored by IDI Associate Natalie Bugalski. The paper offers a rationale for adopting a human rights approach to development and recommends a ten-pronged framework for adopting the approach in the land […]
The ADB involuntary resettlement policy: Fifteen years on, the poorest still bear the brunt of development
It has been more than 15 years since the Asian Development Bank (ADB) adopted a policy on involuntary resettlement with the objective of ensuring that “displaced people are at least as well-off as they would have been in the absence of the [ADB-financed] project.” The rationale behind the policy was a shift away from the […]
Derailed: Cambodia’s Poor Paying the Price for Railway Development
Every year millions of people around the world are forcibly displaced from their lands, homes and livelihoods to make way for large-scale infrastructure projects. Most often those who are forced to sacrifice their place on earth for both public and private interests are amongst the poorest and most vulnerable people in society. They are thus […]
Tracking aid in Cambodia: Monitoring the resettlement impacts of the Railways Rehabilitation Project
In October 2010, I traveled with a small research team from the rights groups Bridges Across Borders Cambodia (BABC) and Sahmakum Teang Tnaut (STT) to Battambang in northwest Cambodia to interview families resettled to make way for the rehabilitation of Cambodia’s rail network. The trip was a part of an NGO effort to monitor the […]