Human rights experts set the record straight for the World Bank

Indigenous rights experts have written to the World Bank President and Executive Board to underscore the importance of the World Bank adopting a standard of free, prior and informed consent for indigenous peoples potentially affected by development initiatives funded by the Bank. In the letter, the experts point out that the existing standard of Broad Community Support used by the Bank has failed to improve outcomes for development initiatives, and is a standard that is implemented ineffectively and inconsistently across the Bank’s portfolio. 

The letter also points out considerable inaccuracies in the Bank’s reporting of a dialogue held on the topic of indigenous peoples’ rights in Addis Ababa in late 2015, and sets the record straight regarding the outcomes of that dialogue.