Committee for the Abolition of Illegitimate Debt

“This decision is beyond disappointing – it is a slap in the face for the Badia East community members who were forcibly evicted and left homeless for well over a year. What’s particularly incomprehensible is that it was reached after the Inspection Panel met the affected people, heard their stories and saw the situation for themselves” - Ashfaq Khalfan, Researcher on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights at Amnesty International
The affected community members were meant to benefit from a World Bank World Bank
WB The World Bank was founded as part of the new international monetary system set up at Bretton Woods in 1944. Its capital is provided by member states’ contributions and loans on the international money markets. It financed public and private projects in Third World and East European countries.

It consists of several closely associated institutions, among which :

1. The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD, 189 members in 2017), which provides loans in productive sectors such as farming or energy ;

2. The International Development Association (IDA, 159 members in 1997), which provides less advanced countries with long-term loans (35-40 years) at very low interest (1%) ;

3. The International Finance Corporation (IFC), which provides both loan and equity finance for business ventures in developing countries.

As Third World Debt gets worse, the World Bank (along with the IMF) tends to adopt a macro-economic perspective. For instance, it enforces adjustment policies that are intended to balance heavily indebted countries’ payments. The World Bank advises those countries that have to undergo the IMF’s therapy on such matters as how to reduce budget deficits, round up savings, enduce foreign investors to settle within their borders, or free prices and exchange rates.

-funded project in the wider Badia area which aimed to increase access to basic services through investment in infrastructure for services such as drainage. But nearly 17 months on, they have been denied alternative housing and have not been adequately compensated for their loss.

“This decision is beyond disappointing – it is a slap in the face for the Badia East community members who were forcibly evicted and left homeless for well over a year. What’s particularly incomprehensible is that it was reached after the Inspection Panel met the affected people, heard their stories and saw the situation for themselves,” said Ashfaq Khalfan, Researcher on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights at Amnesty International.

“The World Bank Board of Directors and President Jim Kim should call an urgent Board meeting to discuss the panel’s decision and uphold its responsibility to the Badia East community.”

Amnesty International agrees with the forcibly evicted residents that the Resettlement Action Plan designed for them has been flawed, violates human rights standards and does not comply with the World Bank’s policy on involuntary resettlement. It has not provided any options for alternative housing and concrete livelihood support and was developed without genuine consultation with the community representatives.

More than a year after the forced evictions in Badia East, the Lagos state government offered inadequate financial assistance to the affected communities on a “take it or leave it” basis. It was wholly inadequate for the harm and loss they have suffered and most of the affected people were left with no alternative but to live in precarious conditions.

Two of the three community members who originally requested the World Bank investigation have, through their lawyer, publicly expressed their extreme discontent to the Inspection Panel about the financial assistance provided and the process of developing the Resettlement Action Plan. Forty-one other community members have backed them in their stance, but in refusing to investigate, the World Bank’s panel has seemingly ignored their views. This is despite the fact that the Inspection Panel has stated itself that many of the affected people it interviewed complained that payments were totally insufficient for them to restore their previous livelihoods.

The Inspection Panel’s decision was reached under a new pilot scheme which aims to solve problems facing the complainants before deciding on whether to carry out an investigation. Amnesty International is calling for an independent investigation into how the World Bank inspection panel handled the pilot, and for a suspension of the pilot scheme until that investigation has been completed. Until then, future complainants should carefully consider whether to agree to participate in the pilot scheme.

“Based on this case, it seems that the World Bank inspection panel’s pilot scheme is little more than a public relations effort that allowed it to wash its hands of its responsibility,” said Ashfaq Khalfan.