Joint Letter to World Bank President Kim: Action Plan Inadequate Response to Resettlement Portfolio Review

Dear Dr. Kim,

We write in response to the World Bank’s Involuntary Resettlement Portfolio Review, and the Action Plan intended to address the findings of the Review, both released last month. As you have recognized, the findings of the Portfolio Review are deeply troubling. They reveal fundamental failures in the Bank’s safeguards system and are a matter of urgent public concern.

While it is important that the review of Bank-financed projects was undertaken and finally published, the lack of transparency demonstrated by the Bank in concealing the Review's findings - for three years in the case of part one and nine months in the case of part two - is unacceptable for a public institution. We are particularly disappointed that the Bank withheld the documents until after the consultation on the Bank’s proposed Environmental and Social Framework (ESF) had closed, given the importance of the findings to the review of the Bank’s safeguards.

While we welcome some of the provisions of the Action Plan such as increased budget and staff training, we do not believe that the Action Plan put forward by the Bank will be effective at addressing the numerous and serious failings of the safeguards system surfaced by the portfolio review:

The Action Plan is not commensurate with the extent of systematic failure by Bank staff and Borrowers to comply with existing policy, procedures and contractual loan obligations on involuntary resettlement.
Its reliance on the proposed ESF to solve the deep-seated structural flaws identified is misguided. The findings underscore many of the fundamental shortcomings of the proposed ESF highlighted by our organizations, including the lack of detail on required baseline data and socio-economic surveys and the over-reliance on borrower reports, among other weaknesses in the due diligence, monitoring and evaluation requirements on the Bank.
It does not sufficiently incorporate measures to ensure accountability for achieving resettlement outcomes in line with the objectives of the Bank’s resettlement policy.

Finally, we are extremely concerned that the Action Plan does not set out to identify and provide redress to the individuals and communities that have been displaced by World Bank project teams without ensuring their reconstruction and rehabilitation. Under Bank policy and loan agreements, each of these individuals was, and remains, entitled to a set of protections and support to ensure, at a minimum, that they are not made worse off by the Bank project. Many of these people may well have been impoverished.

We urge the World Bank to respond to this institutional failure, and to bring itself into compliance with its mission and its operational policies and procedures, by identifying the people who have been displaced by Bank-financed projects and providing them with genuine sustainable development opportunities through a series of new grant-funded projects.

We urge you to consult with civil society and external experts on the Action Plan, including by convening an appropriate forum at which the authors of the Review present the findings and external stakeholders have an opportunity to discuss the implications and the necessary components of an effective, time-bound action plan, including the appropriateness of measures already committed to by the Bank. Implications of the Review’s findings for the second draft of the proposed ESF will be a pivotal part of the discussion.

We would appreciate the opportunity to discuss this issue with you further.

Yours sincerely,

Nicolas Mombrial	Oxfam International	Global
Jessica Evans	Human Rights Watch	Global
Theodore E Downing	The International Network on Displacement and Resettlement	Global
Joan Carling	Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact	Thailand
Chad Dobson	Bank Information Center	USA
David Pred	Inclusive Development International	USA
Jaybee Garganera	Alyansa Tigil Mina (Alliance Against Mining)	Philippines
Fiu Mataese ELISARA	Ole Siosiomaga Society Incorporated (OLSSI)	Samoa
Barbara Rose Johnston, PhD	Center for Political Ecology	United States
Graeme Brown	Southeast Asia Development Program	Cambodia
Arimbi heroepoetri	DebtWatch Indonesia	Indonesia
Andrew Whitmore	Indigenous Peoples Links (PIPLinks)	United Kingdom
Dr Joshua Curtis	Irish Centre for Human Rights	Ireland
Sarom EE	Sahmakum Teang Tnaut	Cambodia
Luiz Vieira	Bretton Woods Project	United Kingdom
Korinna Horta, Ph.D.	Urgewald	Germany
Okereke Chinwike	Africa Law Foundation (AFRILAW))	NIGERIA
Inês Martins	La'o Hamutuk	Timor-Leste
Aly Sagne	Lumiere Synergie Developpement	Senegal
Vanessa Torres	Asociacion Ambiente y Sociedad	Colombia
Peter Bosshard	International Rivers	USA
Keith Roberts	Mayflower Church Global Justice Team	USA
Helen Tugendhat	Forest Peoples Programme	UK
Nelson Nnanna Nwafor	Foundation For Environmental Rights,Advocacy & Development FENRAD	Nigeria
Mariana González Armijo	Fundar, Centro de Análisis e Investigación	Mexico
Roger Moody	Nostromo Research	England
Bret Thiele	Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights	USA
Javiera Valencia	Fundación Terram	Chile
Claire McNeil	ESCR Net	Canada
Pieter Jansen	Both ENDS	Netherlands
Juan Martín Carballo	FUNDEPS - Foundation for the Development of Sustainable Policies	Argentina
Natalie Fields	Accountability Counsel	USA
Mark Cubit	Planet Wheeler Foundation	Australia
Samin NGACH (Mr)	Cambodia Indigenous Youth Association (CIYA)	Cambodia
Nurul Alam Masud	Participatory Research Action Network- PRAN	Bangladesh
Tessa Khan	Asia Pacific Forum on Women Law and Development	Asia Pacific
Sudha Reddy	Eco Foundation for Sustainable Alternatives (EFSA)	India
Andrés Nápoli	FARN	Argentina
Hozue Hatae	Friends of the Earth Japan	Japan
Joseph Schechla	Housing and Land Rights Network - Habitat International Coalition	Egypt
Pol Vandevoort	11.11.11 - Coalition of the Flemish North-South Movement	Belgium
Astrid Puentes	Interamerican Association for Environmental Defense (AIDA)	Regional
Michael Nanz	FIAN Switzerland for the Right to Adequate Food	Switzerland
Drillisch, Heike	GegenStroemung - CounterCurrent	Germany
Rohr, Johannes	INFOE - Institute for Ecology and Action Anthropology	Germany
Saviour AKPAN Esq.	Community Policing Partners for Justice, Security and Democratic Reforms	Nigeria
Shalmali Guttal	Focus on the Global South	Thailand
Urantsooj Gombosuren	Centre for Human Rights and Development	Mongolia
Thilak Kariyawasam	Sri Lanka Nature Group	Sri Lanka
Megan Chapman	Justice & Empowerment Initiatives - Nigeria	Nigeria
Maurice Ouma Odhiambo	Jamaa Resource Initiatives	Kenya
Kate Watters	Crude Accountability	USA
Elaine Zuckerman	Gender Action	USA
Shulamith Koenig	PDHRE, People's Movement for Human Rights Learning	USA
Derek MacCuish	Social Justice Connection	Canada
Karen Orenstein	Friends of the Earth US	United States
Marco Simons	EarthRights International	USA-Peru-Thailand-Myanmar
Catherine Coumans	MiningWatch Canada	Canada
Eang Vuthy	Equitable Cambodia	Cambodia
Souparna Lahiri	India Forum of Forest Movements (AFFM)	India
Annie Bird	Rights and Ecology	USA
Stephanie Fried	Ulu Foundation	USA
Manolinh	LLG	Laos
Johan Frijns, Director	BankTrack	Netherlands
Jocelyn Medallo	Center for International Environmental Law	USA
Sor.Rattanamanee Polkla	Community Resource Centre	Thailand
Dang Dinh Bach	The Law and Policy of Sustainable Development Research Center	Vietnam
Jocelyn Medallo	Center for International Environmental Law	USA
Sor.Rattanamanee Polkla	Community Resource Centre	Thailand
Toshiyuki Doi	Mekong Watch	Japan
Raquel Rolnik	Former UN Special Rapportuer for Adequate Housing	Brazil
Judith Blau		USA
Andrea Rocca		Italy
Rebecca Shadwick		UK
Denise Bell		USA
Jessica Lyon		Canada
Jonathan Fox		USA
Erik Schnabel		USA
Dr Tom Griffiths		UK
Bastiaan Kluft		Senegal
Susan Randolph		United States
Carmen Márquez-Carrasco		Spain
Blen Hailu		Ethiopia
Joanne Bauer		USA
Fahd Reyaz		United States