28 February 2005
También Disponible [en Español]
President Enrique Iglesias
Inter-American Development Bank
1300 New York Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20577
22 February 2005
Re: Public Consultation Process for the Enhancements to the Independent Investigation Mechanism
Dear President Iglesias:
We are writing to request that the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) amend the public consultation process for the draft restructuring of the Independent Investigation Mechanism (IIM) to help ensure meaningful and effective stakeholder participation. As you may remember from our letter of July, 8 2004, numerous organizations from civil society have called for revisions to the IIM, and are eager to participate in this process.
As you know, on February 4 the IDB opened the 90-day public comment period on the new draft IIM draft Consultation and Compliance Review Policy. The IDB plans to hold a short briefing on the draft on February 21 during the Annual Civil Society Meeting in Panama, and a full consultation in Washington, D.C. on April 25. Apparently, one or more "regional briefings" at IDB Country Offices are being planned for the week of April 25 or May 2.
Those of us currently participating in the IDB's public consultations for the Environment and Safeguards Policy (ESP) believe that a good environmental policy and a strong, publicly accessible IIM go hand in hand. Both are vital to environmental stewardship and sustainable development. Therefore, we would like to see the same rigor used in the Environmental Policy consultations applied to the IIM public consultations. For example:
- The ESP consultations are held at various nodal points in Latin America and the Caribbean (Barbados, Rio de Janeiro, Lima, and Panama City), as well as North America and Europe (Washington, D.C., Brussels). The IIM should hold the same meetings and extend the same invitations.
- In addition, we feel the Bank should do explicit outreach to affected parties who have previously brought claims before the current IIM or individuals or groups who are known to have been adversely affected by Bank-financed operations, to solicit their input into this consultative process.
- ESP consultations are full-day meetings with consulted agendas. Participant lists have been circulated so that civil society organizations can contact each other beforehand to discuss the policy and prepare for the meeting. Summaries of the meetings are posted on the IDB website. All of this should also be done for the IIM.
- Some financial support has been made available for smaller, Southern civil society organizations to attend the ESP consultations. This should also be made available for the IIM consultations.
We, the undersigned organizations, applaud the Bank for its efforts to include civil society in these very important consultation processes, and urge the IDB to apply the same high standards set by the Environmental Policy consultations to the IIM review process.
cc:
IDB Board of Directors
Dennis Flannery, Executive Vice-President
Janine Ferretti, Chief, Sustainable Development Department
John Ferriter, Senior Public Information Officer, Advisor, External Relations
Sincerely,
Ima M. Avila Q.
Grupo para la Educación y el Manejo Ambiental Sostenible (GEMAS)
Panamá
Glenn Switkes,
International Rivers Network
Brasíl
Oscar Rivas
SOBREVIVENCIA, Amigos de la Tierra
Paraguay
Carlos Abanto
Asociación Civil Labor - Amigos de la Tierra
Perú
Alcides Faria
Ecoa
Brasil
Alessandro Menezes
Rede Pantanal
Brasil
Susana Cruickshank
Centro de Estudios en Cooperación Internacional
y Gestión Pública, A.C.
México
Jorge Cortés
CEADES
Bolivia
Godsman Ellis
Belize Alliance of Conservation NGO's (BACONGO)
Belize
Aaron Goldzimer
Environmental Defense
USA
Eric Holt-Giménez
Bank Information Center
USA
Elizabeth Bast
Friends of the Earth
USA
Roxane Segundo
Parque Nacional Metropolitano
Jorge Daneri
Foro Ecologista de Panamá
Argentina
Cecilia Alemany
ALOP (oficina en Europa)
Uruguay
María Sleur Naitnez
Asociación Nacional ONG Uruguay
Geoniela de Guinard
Red Nacional de Organizaciones de la media y pequeña Empresa REDNOMIPEM
ONG de Panamá
Eugenio Echeverio
Juventud Rural
Uruguay
Juan G. Fagette
Instituto Internacional de Intercambio Tecnológico y Capacitación
Fundacion Centro George Westerman
Panamá
Ellen Greaves
Fund Centro George Westerman
Tania Arosemena Bodero
Iniciativa de la Sociedad Civil para el Ambiente
Ariel Rodriguez V.
Alianza para la Conservación y el Deasarrollo (ACD Panamá)
Patricia Almaguer-Kalixto
University of East Anglia
Leonardo Sidnez
Laboratorio Político, Scoial y Cultural
Carlyle Carter
Barbados Private Sector Association
Barbados
Carmen Miró Cela Panamá
Panamá
Brenda Bucheli
Pact Perú
Patricia Zurita
Conservation Internacional, Área Andina
U.S.A..
Felix Sanchez
Presidente de: Alianza pro Defensa de la Recursos Naturales del Pueblo Naso-Teaibe
Panamá
Víctor M. Campos C.
Centro Humboldt
Nicaragua
Marí E. Forouda Farmo
Sociedad de Adiqual del Ambiente- SNA-
Perú
Ramosa Dooraoo
Chairman- International Co-operation committee
Guyana Manufacturers Association
Lancelot Baptiste
Representative
Guyana Trades Union Congress
Guyana
Nichole Walsh
Both Ends
The Netherlands
Seth Nickinson
IDB Civil Society Initiative- InterAction
U.S.A.