Human Rights Watch recognizes that the World Bank operates in countries and environments where there are many human rights challenges. A commitment to human rights would greatly enhance the impact of the Bank’s efforts to reduce poverty and promote inclusive and sustainable development.

Algerian authorities illegally restricted rights to free movement when they barred 96 Algerian civil society activists from travelling to Tunisia, without giving any reason.

Human Rights Watch welcomes the High-level Panel’s efforts to advance a Post-2015 Development Agenda that seeks to learn from and build on the progress achieved through the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The Post-2015 consultations have revealed a strong international consensus for placing human rights at the center of the Post-2015 framework. The human rights framework unites the core aims of economic development, equality, and environmental sustainability, and its use will ensure accountability for the new agenda by anchoring it in existing international human rights obligations.

The World Bank’s board should support an internal investigation into allegations of abuse linked to a World Bank project in Ethiopia. The Inspection Panel, the World Bank’s independent accountability mechanism, has recommended an investigation into whether it has violated its policies in a project linked to the Ethiopian government’s resettlement program, known as “villagization.”