20 March 2006
In an open letter to Asian Development Bank (ADB) President Kuroda and the Board of Directors, over forty civil society organizations warned against the approach outlined by the ADB in the review of its Environment, Indigenous Peoples, and Involuntary Resettlement Policies, highlighting the potential for drastically weakened standards of social and environmental protections.
On March 16, 2006, an open letter endorsed by forty-eight civil society organizations was sent to Asian Development Bank President Kuroda, the Board of Directors and Senior Management, expressing concerns about the ADB’s approach to the review of its Safeguard Policies. The letter, “No to Weakened Standards, Yes to Accountability,” highlights the main recommendations of these groups for ensuring that the ADB strengthen its social and environmental protection benchmarks as it prepares to review its Environment, Indigenous Peoples, and Involuntary Resettlement policies, collectively known as the ADB Safeguards.
The letter comes in response to a December 2005, ADB “Discussion Note,” which outlines the ADB’s approach to the Safeguards review process. Criticizing the approach as a movement away from the Bank’s development mandate, the letter argues that the “Discussion Note”:
- advocates for flexible policy standards with no minimum protections;
- holds borrowers’ interests, like speedy project processing and “headache-free” implementation, above the concerns of project-affected communities and stakeholders; and
- confirms the Bank’s “schizophrenia”- the ADB’s uncertainty of whether it is a bank or a development agency- that has led it to pursue weakened policies, enticing borrowers with loans
Instead of the directions for the Safeguards review proposed within the “Discussion Note,” civil society groups elaborated several key recommendations for the ADB to strengthen its environmental and social standards and hold ADB management accountable for policy implementation. In particular, these recommendations include:
- complying with international human rights, labor and environmental laws, conventions, and norms;
- developing clear and comprehensive social and environmental policy frameworks;
- establishing mechanisms for compliance and ensuring accountability for results on the ground; and
- protecting the rights of all affected communities and ensuring respect for indigenous peoples’ internationally guaranteed rights
Additional Resources
- Official information about the Safeguards review is available from the ADB’s website