The World Bank is in the final stages of revising its Indigenous Peoples Policy.  The current policy, Operational Directive 4.20 (OD 4.20) has been in effect since 1992.  The main objectives of the policy are “to insure that World-Bank financed development projects do not cause adverse impacts upon indigenous peoples, and that they provide them with culturally compatible social and economic benefits. The current revision process, which began in 1998, is not meant to change those objectives. The revision is meant to facilitate the implementation of the policy. Some observers suggest that the draft, revised policy (OP 4.10), released to the public electronically in July 2001, is considerably weaker in important areas.  Indigenous organizations complain that the draft lacks strong language to protect their rights, and that the consultation is too rushed. The Bank is now beginning a last round of external stakeholder consultations on OP 4.10, and the accompanying Bank Procedure (BP 4.10). There is a pressing need to facilitate meaningful participation in that process.

Consultation Process

The external stakeholder consultations regarding OP/BP 4.10 are taking place in all of the Banks regions October 1 – December 15 (see table below).  There is some lack of clarity about the extent to which consultations may lead to significant revisions of the draft, but the Bank Strategy document does state that comments received will be considered in revising the current draft policy.  The consultations are also meant to feed into writing a Sourcebook on Indigenous Peoples that should provide recommendations and ‘best practice’ guidelines for Bank staff.  The consultation is three pronged: A web-based electronic forum, discussions with international institutions, and in-country, regional consultations. To date there is no available background information from the bank explaining the revised policy, describing the changes that have been made, or otherwise discussing the substance of the policy, despite the fact that consultations are underway. The draft policy is available on the web site in a number of languages, but it does not provide an explanatory framework.

Substantive Issues

Concerns raised by Indigenous people throughout the consultation process, and concerning the new the draft policy, include:

• Requirements concerning Indigenous land and resource issues are not clear.
• Provisions for legal protections are now optional instead of mandatory.
• Provisions for peoples affected by protected areas are unclear.
• It allows for involuntary resettlement of Indigenous peoples.
• It does not meet existing international human rights standards.
• It does not include many of the most important recommendations made by indigenous peoples in the first round of consultations including: the right to prior and informed consent, indigenous monitoring of Bank projects, and fair ‘mitigation’ requirements.

OED Implementation Review

Meanwhile, the Operations Evaluation Department launched an implementation review of the relevance, efficacy and efficiency of the Bank’s existing IP policy (OD4.20).  This study is welcome, but observers argue that its findings should feed into the revised policy.  After receiving external pressure, the OED decided to complete a first phase of the study- a desk-based review of about 916 closed investment projects in 34 countries, over the last ten years - by December 2001, so that it could feed into the revision process.  A second phase of the study- based on field assessments in a few selected countries-should feed into the Sourcebook.  The rushed time frame, low budget, and limited number of field based evaluations raise questions about how thorough the study can be and the extent to which it can contribute significantly to the revision process.

External Stakeholder Consultation Schedule