Response for the vice President of the World Bank Regarding the Converion Process

 

 

April, 2001

From: Ian Johnson,
Vice President and Head
Environmentally & Socially Sustainable Development Network

To: Dana Clark
Center for International Environmental Law

Dear Dana,

Thank you for your letters dated January 5, February22, and March 20, 2001, copies of which were marked to me.  I understand that you have spoken to Maninder Gill and are aware that we have been having internal discussions on the draft policy over the past few weeks.  Because we did not have, until recently, an internally endorsed draft of the revised resettlement policy, we were not able to meaningfully respond to specific concerns raised in your letters.

We have now posted on the web the revised draft of OP/BP 4.12 along with a summary of the comments received during external consultations, as well as the Bank's response to each one of them.  In addition, we have posted a list of frequently asked questions along with the answers.  Most of the specific technical issues raised in your letters are addressed in the documents posted on the web:  http://wbln0018.worldbank.org/essd.nsf/NGOs/home.  You will notice that many of the specific comments made by you have been incorporated in the draft OP/BP 4.12.  We have also tried to take on board as many other of the other comments as possible within the scope of a "conversion" of the policy.

We have consistently held that the policy conversion process does include the incorporation of important policy clarifications provided by Bank Management and takes into account important recommendations of OED evaluations and lessons of implementation.  However, since the conversion process is not supposed to alter the key objectives and principles of the current resettlement policy, it is not possible to accommodate suggestions that entail a change in current standards.  At the same time, we have taken great care to ensure that the current standards enshrined in safeguard policies are not, in any way, diluted.

I hope that you would agree that we have made every effort to consult with NGOs and civil society as part of the external consultations process.  Regarding the process of disseminating the results of the external consultations, the web posting was delayed until we were able to complete the internal discussions, including technical briefings for our Executive Directors.  We have come away from this process with the lesson learned that we need to be much more explicit, from the outset, on the detailed process -- from initial dissemination of the draft policy to the Board presentation of the final policy.

Thank you for your feedback, and I look forward to your continued interest in the Bank's work on involuntary resettlement.

Sincerely,

Ian Johnson

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