Recommendations

The report concludes with recommendations for UN involvement in assessing the legal and moral accountability of the World Bank as a multilateral financial institution, both in its general activities and with regards to the particular case of the Rio Negro community. These recommendations are threefold:

* A UN-mandated investigation into the accountability of the international financial institutions involved in the Chixoy dam project. This recommendation stems from the World Bank's failure to adhere to its own policy guidelines and standards in force at the time of dam construction. As well, given the fact that conflicting claims continue to exist regarding the Bank's level of responsibility, and given the need to investigate, as in the case of Guatemala, not only the responsibility of internal involved parties, but also, outside parties that influence or cause human rights abuses, the Chixoy dam case is a clear option for investigation.

* The establishment of a human rights evaluative body for World Bank projects. At present, World Bank review mechanisms fail to ensure that human rights concerns are incorporated into project planning and prevent the institution from learning from past mistakes. The UN should establish criteria for determining the need for a human rights investigation prior to initiating development projects in a particular country or region. Then, the UN should establish a mechanism for conducting human rights assessments for projects which do not meet the stated criteria. In establishing this mechanism, the extreme difficulty faced by the Bank's current Inspection Panel to adequately influence the policies of the Bank's Board, should be taken into account.

* Liberalization of World Bank policies regarding access to information. In the case of the Chixoy dam, large gaps of information about World Bank knowledge and action have prevented any party from successfully evaluating conflicting claims about responsibility for the violations that occurred. Thus, our third recommendation suggests that several reforms should be undertaken - along the lines of the UN's own information policy -- to increase access to information and to make the Bank's own review procedures more accessible to those affected by the Bank's activities.

CONTACT REPORT AUTHORS

Paula Goldman, pgoldman@princeton.edu
Casey Kelso, caseykelso@yahoo.com
Monika Parikh, monika_parikh@hotmail.com

COMPLETE REPORT

The complete report is posted on Advocacy Project's website and available for download as .pdf files. http://www.advocacynet.org/resource_5.html

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Go to the Advocacy Project website: www.advocacynet.org
Go to the Rights Action website: www.rightsaction.org

CHIXOY DAM REPARATIONS CAMPAIGN

For information about an ongoing campaign to have the World Bank and the IDB provide full and proper compensation and reparations to the surviving members of the Rio Negro community, go to the
Rights Action website [www.rightsaction.org] or contact: info@rightsaction.org

<<<< EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
<<< World Bank Accountability
<< Structure of the Report
< Legal Accountability
^^ Recommendations
^ CONTACT INFORMATION