U.S.: World Bank’s Decision to Re-Enter Cambodia Questionable

The United States is accusing the World Bank of failing to learn from past mistakes and asserting that Cambodia is violating human rights. The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors voted to approve four projects in Cambodia and to loan the nation $130 million in support of those projects.

The United States is accusing the World Bank of failing to learn from past mistakes and asserting that Cambodia is violating human rights. The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors voted to approve four projects in Cambodia and to loan the nation $130 million in support of those projects.

The U.S. believes Cambodia is scaling back rights to free speech, and points to the nation’s forced relocation of thousands of families in Phnom Penh’s Boeng Kak neighborhood during its last round of funding from the World Bank as evidence of why the loans should never be given.

Aside from the U.S., many groups around the world expressed dismay at the World Bank’s decision. This assertion comes, in part, because many of the families displaced in Phnom Penh have yet to be compensated for their forced relocation. The relocation was required in order to redevelop the land for high-end real estate projects, including one personal project for a Cambodian senator.

The new loans and Country Engagement Note (CEN) come with an outline of the Bank’s plans for Cambodia’s near future. Unfortunately, these moves come amid a time of intense political crackdowns in the Asian nation against dissenting members of the ruling party.

At the time of taking a vote on the Cambodian loan on May 20, the U.S. decided to abstain. The abstention was intended as a protest of the Bank’s intention to even consider lending funds to Cambodia after the human rights violations. Worse yet, despite the nation’s impressive economic growth and shrinking poverty levels, the U.S. said it has reason to believe that corruption, transparency, land reform laws, and other issues still plague the nation’s leaders.

In a statement regarding its decision to abstain, the U.S. said the following.

“Regrettably, the United States questions the Government of Cambodia’s commitment to these priorities and therefore cannot support new lending to Cambodia at this point…Unfortunately; the Government of Cambodia appears to be reducing its openness to feedback from its citizens and civil society groups…The Unites States hears consistent complaints that the Cambodian government, at all levels, is growing less responsive to citizen feedback…Recent events also call into question the independence of Cambodia’s judiciary and its ability to play a key role in ensuring the equitable and transparent implementation of development projects…The reticence of the government to provide appropriate compensation for citizens evicted from their land under previous projects does not provide the United States with confidence that the authorities will deal with its citizens equitably in the future.”