International Financial Institutions and Human Rights
Hearing Notice
Please join the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission for a hearing on international financial institutions (IFIs) and human rights.
International financial institutions exert considerable influence on international development through their lending, grant-making, technical assistance and research. The World Bank, which has set itself the goal of eliminating extreme poverty, is arguably the most important international development agency. However, the World Bank has resisted incorporating human rights standards into its work. Many World Bank projects have been strongly criticized for generating highly prejudicial effects at the domestic level, such as land grabs and forced displacement. The inclusion of human rights standards in the design and evaluation of World Bank and other IFI development projects could assist in preventing such effects. Human rights observations could furthermore play a positive role by offering guidance to the World Bank and other IFIs on programs and projects to promote at the country and project level.
The first panel of hearing witnesses will discuss case studies of the negative consequences of development projects funded by IFIs. The second panel will focus on recommendations for advancing towards the incorporation of human rights into the work of the World Bank and other IFIs.
For any questions, please contact Kimberly Stanton (for Rep. McGovern) at 202-225-3599 or Kimberly.Stanton@mail.house.gov or Carson Middleton (for Rep. Pitts) at 202-225-2411 or Carson.Middleton@mail.house.gov.
Hosted by:
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James P. McGovern
Member of Congress
Co-Chair, TLHRC
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Joseph R. Pitts
Member of Congress
Co-Chair, TLHRC
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Opening Remarks
- Rep. James P. McGovern, Co-Chair
Written remarks
Witnesses
Panel I: Case studies
- Obang Metho, Executive Director, Solidarity Movement for a New Ethiopia
Written testimony - Milton Sánchez, General Secretary, The Interinstitutional Platform of Celendín
Written testimony - Nezir Sinani, Safeguards Coordinator and Climate Change Coordinator, Bank Information Center
Written testimony
Panel II: Recommendations
- Professor Philip Alston, UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
Written testimony
Submitted for the Record
- Columbia Law School Human Rights Clinic, Conga No Va: An Assessment of the Conga Mining Project in Light of World Bank Standards, September 2015
- Nezir Sinani, Appendix 1: Theodore Edmond Downing, Does the Kosovo Power Project's Proposed Forced Displacement of Kosovars Comply with International Involuntary Resettlement Standards?, February 14, 2014
- Nezir Sinani, Appendix 2: Kittner, et. al., Sustainable Electricity Options for Kosovo, April 2015
- Nezir Sinani, Appendix 3: Letter to the World Bank Inspection Panel from members of the Hade and Obiliq municipalities and civil society organizations based in Kosovo
- Philip Alston, UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, U.N. General Assembly, Report of the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights (A/70/274), August 4, 2015
Transcript
International Financial Institutions and Human Rights