World Bank staff actions condemned
Date: 01/11/2007
The Rainforest Foundation has condemned actions by World Bank staff towards a delegation from Congolese organisations representing rainforest communities at a recent meeting in Kinsasha in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Inappropriate behaviour by Bank staff including unauthorised filming of the informal meeting led to a letter from the Rainforest Foundation to World Bank Vice President for Africa Obiagele Ezekwesili demanding action. The incident “reflects the ongoing failure of Bank staff to meaningfully and frankly engage the local population in decision-making on forest sector interventions,” the letter states.
The Kinsasha meeting was held at the request of Congolese partner organisations following the recent World Bank Annual Meetings in Washington, DC where they raised the plight of the Congo rainforests with World Bank President Robert Zoellick and other top officials including Ms. Ezekwesili.
It comes in the wake of a damning report by the Inspection Panel (the World Bank’s watchdog) heavily criticising the bank for funding a number of logging projects which would have turned the country into “Africa’s premier timber producer” and totally ignoring the existence of the indigenous population.
The letter asks for Bank staff to be held accountable for filming without permission; and that staff responsible for the work scrutinised by the Inspection Panel report are answersable for their actions and their failure to respect the Bank’s own policies. It also calls on the World Bank to disclose the Inspection Panel report and its response and engage in open debates on the matter.
“With the Inspection Panel report on DRC due to be reviewed by the Board within the next few weeks, it seems to us to be an extremely poor time for Bank staff to be behaving inappropriately,” the letter states.
Read the letter here.
Inappropriate behaviour by Bank staff including unauthorised filming of the informal meeting led to a letter from the Rainforest Foundation to World Bank Vice President for Africa Obiagele Ezekwesili demanding action. The incident “reflects the ongoing failure of Bank staff to meaningfully and frankly engage the local population in decision-making on forest sector interventions,” the letter states.
The Kinsasha meeting was held at the request of Congolese partner organisations following the recent World Bank Annual Meetings in Washington, DC where they raised the plight of the Congo rainforests with World Bank President Robert Zoellick and other top officials including Ms. Ezekwesili.
It comes in the wake of a damning report by the Inspection Panel (the World Bank’s watchdog) heavily criticising the bank for funding a number of logging projects which would have turned the country into “Africa’s premier timber producer” and totally ignoring the existence of the indigenous population.
The letter asks for Bank staff to be held accountable for filming without permission; and that staff responsible for the work scrutinised by the Inspection Panel report are answersable for their actions and their failure to respect the Bank’s own policies. It also calls on the World Bank to disclose the Inspection Panel report and its response and engage in open debates on the matter.
“With the Inspection Panel report on DRC due to be reviewed by the Board within the next few weeks, it seems to us to be an extremely poor time for Bank staff to be behaving inappropriately,” the letter states.
Read the letter here.
