The World Bank's Involuntary Resettlement Policy

 

October 2001

The World Bank involuntary resettlement policy states that project planning must avoid and minimize involuntary resettlement, and that if people lose their homes or livelihoods as a result of Bank-financed projects, they should have their standard of living improved, or at least restored. The policy was designed to address the plight of millions of people around the world whose homes are destroyed or whose livelihoods are adversely affected as a result of Bank-financed projects. According to World Bank figures, at least 3.2 million people are being affected by loss of land or livelihood as a result of projects under implementation.

Now the Bank is considering revisions to that policy, a process that CIEL has been monitoring for years. This page contains analysis, documents and background information to assist the public to provide input into the process.

Update, October 2001 - The draft resettlement policy has been scheduled for discussion and approval by the Bank's Board of Executive Directors on October 23, 2001. This is our final chance to rise concerns about the draft and demand changers.

• Read CIEL's October 10, 2001 letter to the Bank's Board of Executive Directors, calling for modifications to the draft resettlement policy

Previous Action Alert(s):

• August 2001 - action alert and talking points
• Contact information for all the World Bank's Executive Directors

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Resettlement Policy - Proposed Drafts and Existing Policy: 

• September 28, 2001 - Wolfensohn memo and background note re: resettlement policy conversion
• Draft OP/Annex/BP 4.12 (September 25, 2001 version)
• Chart comparing OD 4.30 and Draft OP/BP 4.12 (September 28, 2001)
• July 2001 - version of the draft resettlement policy:
  1. Ian Johnson July 2001 Memo Summarizing Changes to Resettlement Policy
  2. July 2001 Draft Operational Policy and Annex
  3. July 2001 Draft Bank Procedures (note: the Operational Policy, Annex and Bank Procedures together constitute the draft resettlement policy; they have been broken into separate files to make downloading easier)
• Link directly to the World Bank's resettlement page for the March 6, 2001 Draft OP/BP/Annex and a matrix of Bank responses to public comments.
• Click here to see Matrix of Bank responses to Board member comments.
• Click here to see the March 6, 2001 redlined version of the World Bank's revision to the resettlement policy.
• View the World Bank's existing Resettlement Policy, Operational Directive 4.30.
  
  

CIEL Comments & Correspondence on Resettlement Conversion:

• Maninder Gill's Memo to Dana Clark, sent via email August 19, 2001
• Read CIEL's May 8, 2001 Memo to Mr. Ian Johnson, et. al following the April 26, 2001 conference call.
• Read Mr. Ian Johnson's April 4, 2001 letter to CIEL.
• See the March 20, 2001 letter from CIEL to Mr. Ian Johnson, World Bank Vice President, regarding the conversion process.
• Read the February 20, 2001 letter sent to Mr. James Wolfensohn, World Bank President, by CIEL and International Rivers Network on behalf of more than 150 signatories expressing serious concerns regarding recent revisions to the Bank's draft policy on resettlement.
• CIEL's March 20, 2000 letter to Maninder Gill on the issue of Voluntary Resettlement. 
• CIEL's November, 1999 Comments on the World Bank proposed revision to the involuntary resettlement policy and CIEL's cover letter to Maninder Gill, the World Bank Coordinator for the Resettlement Policy Review. 

Additional Background Information:  [You may need Acrobat Reader for documents in PDF format]

• September 2001 - Forest Peoples Program letter to UK GOA
• View the letter to the World Bank en espanol from AIDA (Asociación
  Interamericana para la Defensa del Ambiente).
• NGOs Call on World Bank to to Step Back from Weakening Resettlement Policy, April, 2001. This press release is accompanied by a separate background briefing.
• "World Bank Attempts to Weaken Resettlement Policy", by Dana Clark, published in World Rivers Review, IRN, February, 2001 (page 3).
• "WCD Raises Bar on Resettlement," by S. Parasuraman, published in World Rivers Review, February, IRN, 2001 (page 5).
• To see comments by the Forest Peoples Programme and their Model Letter to the Executive Directors, click here.
• To view the report of the World Commission on Dams, see www.dams.org/default.php.
• Read the March 2, 2001 letter sent to all World Bank Group Executive Directors regarding concerns about the weakening of Bank safeguard policies.
• World Bank adds "Safeguards" and "World Commission on Dams" links to its website in response to growing public pressure, April, 2001.
• "Update on the Resettlement Policy Conversion Process and Main Concerns" by Kay Treakle, Bank Information Center, February, 2001.
• Prague 2000: "Briefing Paper on Resettlement" by Dana Clark.
• CIEL's Brief, "Resettlement: The World Bank's Assault on the Poor", by Dana Clark, May, 2000
• World Bank, OED, "Involuntary Resettlement: the Large Dam Experience" Winter 2000 (summary from 1998 OED review of involuntary resettlement in six large
  dam projects), April, 2001.

Additional Resources:

Bank Information Center (www.bicusa.org)
Forest Peoples Programme (www.forestpeoples.org)
International Rivers Network (www.irn.org)
International Network on Displacement and Resettlement (www.displacement.net)