(Washington, DC, June 22, 2015)
The World Bank Group has done little to
prevent or dissuade governments from intimidating critics of the
projects it funds, or monitor for reprisals, Human Rights Watch said
in a report released today. The 144-page report, “At Your Own Risk:Reprisals against Critics of World Bank Group Projects,” details
how governments and powerful companies have threatened, intimidated,
and misused criminal laws against outspoken community members who
stand to be displaced or otherwise allegedly harmed by projects
financed by the World Bank and its private sector lending arm, the
International Finance Corporation (IFC).
The World Bank and IFC have failed to
take adequate steps to help create a safe environment in which people
can express concern or criticism about projects funded by the Bank
Group without risk of reprisal, Human Rights Watch found. “The
World Bank has long said that public participation and accountability
are key to the success of the development efforts it funds,” said
Jessica Evans, senior international financial institutions advocate
at Human Rights Watch. “But the World Bank’s repeated failure to
confront intimidation or harassment of people who criticize its
projects risks making a mockery out of these principles.”
Human Rights Watch found that people
who have publicly criticized projects financed by the World Bank and
IFC have faced threats, harassment, and trumped-up criminal charges.
When reprisals have occurred the Bank Group has largely left victims
to their fate, preferring silence or “quiet diplomacy” over the
kind of prompt, public, and vigorous responses that could make a real
difference.
In spite of what are often grave risks,
affected community members in numerous countries have spoken out
about the problems that they see with Bank-supported projects.
Here we will focus on Uganda.
In Uganda, staff at Uganda Land
Alliance and a journalist who worked to document and stop forced
evictions linked to an IFC project described threats, including death
threats. The government also demanded a public apology to the
president and threatened to deregister Uganda Land Alliance unless
they withdrew their report documenting the evictions. In recent
years, a growing number of governments have embarked on broad and
sometimes brutal campaigns to shut down the space for independent
groups. Some governments have responded with ire to criticisms of
government-supported development projects, condemning those who speak
out as “anti-development” or traitors to the national interests.
These abusive measures can obstruct people from participating in
decisions about development, from publicly opposing development
initiatives that may harm their livelihoods or violate their rights,
and from complaining about development initiatives that are
ineffective, harmful, or have otherwise gone wrong.
The independent, internal complaint
mechanisms for the World Bank – the Inspection Panel – and the
IFC – the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO) – have acknowledged
the real risk of retaliation against critics, but neither has
established systematic practices to identify risks of reprisals or
address them. Since receiving the Human Rights Watch findings, the
Inspection Panel has announced it is working on a guidance note on
how to respond to reports of reprisals, and the CAO has promised to
consider the Human Rights Watch recommendations. “The Inspection
Panel and Compliance Advisor Ombudsman’s eagerness to tackle the
risk of reprisals and improve their systems is a great sign,” Evans
said. “World Bank management should follow the lead of its
complaint mechanisms and take the issue of reprisals seriously.”
selected quotes:
“There is still the stigma. We don’t go out as strong any more. We are very cautious about what we say. We don’t say anything controversial in a meeting any more. It affects how we do our things.”
– A staff member of the Uganda Land Alliance, an independent group whose employees faced threats and harassment and that faced de-registration following its research and outspoken criticism of an IFC-financed project.
“Those who delay industrial projects are enemies and I don’t want them. I am going to open war on them.”
– Yoweri Museveni, President of Uganda, two days after breaking ground on the World Bank-financed Bujagali dam project. Human Rights Watch found that reprisals take place in a broader climate that demonizes critics as “anti-development.”
“Free speech is the cornerstone of transparency and accountability. Where World Bank projects are being implemented, citizens must have a voice.… The World Bank should have done more to protect the security of people speaking out against this project. It’s us who facilitate the voice of the people. I’m not aware of them [the World Bank] doing anything [about the reprisals against critics of this project].… This makes me believe they think free speech is not an issue for them.”
– Geoffrey Wokulira Ssebaggala, a human rights defender and journalist who covered forced evictions in Uganda linked to an IFC-financed project.
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