Earlier this month, the World Bank approved a comprehensive overhaul of its social and environmental framework. After four years of heated debate, the final framework includes a new provision in the vision statement asserting that “the World Bank’s activities support the realization of human rights…” and that the Bank “seeks to avoid adverse impacts and will continue to support its member countries as they strive to progressively achieve their human rights commitments.” But prevailing forces within the Bank rejected the call to go further to include a binding commitment to respect human rights, falling back on stale arguments that human rights are political and outside the Bank’s development mandate.
This refusal of the Bank to finally institutionalize human rights is an abject failure for the people who risk their lives speaking out about development projects or defending their lands. In fact, the government clampdown on civil society in many countries explicitly targets those who may stand in the way of development initiatives. The watchdog group Global Witness identified 2015 as the worst year on record for killings of land and environmental defenders, with 185 killings across 16 countries. Governments around the world are increasingly passing laws restricting the activities of civil society groups and making it more difficult for voices that may be critical of development initiatives to be heard. This environment of violence, intimidation, and closing civil society space renders meaningful public participation in development virtually impossible.
Development finance is on a collision course with human rights. The combination of human rights abuses and development is not new, of course. But the growing pressure on land and resources, and the recent resurgence in big infrastructure projects has created a volatile mix. Combined with a move by traditional development banks to increase investments in “fragile and conflict affected states”, and a shrinking space for civil society globally, development finance is on a collision course with human rights.
