Human Rights Groups Say World Bank Allows Attacks, Abuse

Human rights campaigners have levied some serious accusations against the World Bank Group. The accusations assert that the World Bank has repeatedly either targeted or failed to protect individuals that have protested World Bank funded development projects, such as the construction of dams, roads, and other projects.

Human rights campaigners have levied some serious accusations against the World Bank Group. The accusations assert that the World Bank has repeatedly either targeted or failed to protect individuals that have protested World Bank funded development projects, such as the construction of dams, roads, and other projects.

According to a story by the Huffington Post, Human Rights Watch has said the World Bank’s weak response to violence by its borrowers against those that protest the projects they wish to advance undermines the Bank’s purported commitment to empowering those who are supposed to benefit from their funded projects. According to the Human Rights Watch, the World Bank Group’s “prevailing response” in many cases has bordered on “complete apathy.”

Of course, the World Bank Group is not a governmental authority, nor does it control any military or security forces. Thus, it has neither the authority nor the ability for direct intervention in violent actions against protesters. Nevertheless, human rights groups assert that World Bank officials should be willing to abort funding for governments or companies that try to silence their critics.

The World Bank Group lends money to support public works and social services in nations with serious economic and political problems. Often, that means working in countries where things that many in developed nations take for granted (free speech, right to assemble, etc.) do not exist. As a result, critics of projects popular among those in power could lead to violent reprisals or jail.

Since 2004, projects backed by the bank caused the physical or economical displacement of an estimated 3.4 million people, according to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. This includes projects that bulldozed or burned protester homes, and their inhabitants beaten, thrown out, and / or killed.

Of course, despite the lack of actual authority, the World Bank is not completely without power to affect these situations. For example, in 2001, Bank officials intervened in Chad following the arrest of a member of parliament and others who objected the construction of an oil pipeline using funds provided by the World Bank. The Bank’s President at the time, James Wolfensohn, contacted Chad’s president, asking for the release of the legislator and other protesters. Within hours, Chad complied and freed the prisoners.

Thus, human rights groups find the World Bank’s recent lack of intervention troubling. Many have accused World Bank officials of corruption or apathy. Although the World Bank has not directly responded to these accusations, it has urged its borrowers to act more reasonably and with less malice towards those that may protest the nations’ or corporation’s objectives.