140 NGOs call on IFC for clear rights, rules and responsibilities in policy reviews

15 July 2004

In a letter sent to the IFC, civil society groups are calling for a greater focus on human rights and transparency as the IFC begins to draft its safeguard and disclosure policy approach papers this month.

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is currently updating and revising its disclosure policy, environmental and social policies and over 70 technical pollution standards. Starting in July, the IFC will prepare two draft policy approach papers that will be vetted for public review: one paper will focus on the IFC's safeguard policies and one on its disclosure policy. Among other things, the review process will determine whether indigenous communities have the right to say “no” to an IFC project, whether some environmentally vulnerable areas should be protected from any kind of development and it will review and modify international pollution standards.

NGOs and civil society groups have taken the opportunity to write a letter to the IFC at the beginning of this process to ensure that their concerns will be addressed. The letter, sent to the IFC on July 6, was signed by 140 NGOs – 80 from IFC borrowing countries and 60 from donor countries. It calls on the IFC to address the following issues in its review process:

1. The development of a new rights-based approach that recognizes and protects human rights, labor rights, women’s rights and the rights of indigenous peoples.
2. Global environmental and sustainability issues.
3. The development of a set of criteria or indicators of good corporate behavior for all potential project sponsors.
4. The IFC should require that all projects clearly articulate development objectives.
5. All projects should incorporate an integrated assessment to address environment and social issues, including labor, gender, human rights issues, health impacts and poverty reduction issues.
6. All of the IFC’s standards and policies should apply to Financial Intermediaries (FIs).
7. This review process should result in a clear implementation process of the presumption in favor of disclosure.
8. The review process should implement the reccomendations set forth in the Extractive Industries Review.

To see the entire NGO letter, including endorsements, click the links below:

• NGO Sign-on letter (Acrobat pdf 114 KB). Also available: Español (Acrobat pdf 22 KB)

Also see updates on:

• IFC responds to NGO concerns about disclosure policy review process, June 10, 2004
• IFC spearheading overhaul of Pollution Prevention and Abatement Handbook, April 13, 2004

For more information on the IFC policy review processes, see:

• Japan Center for a Sustainable Environment and Society website
• IFC’s Safeguard Policies and Disclosure Policy Review Web page