24 September 2008
Report by 2007 panel accuses the World Bank of causing "grievous and irreversible damage to those they intend to serve" in India.
After a year-long review, the Independent People's Tribunal on the World Bank Group in Asia released its "Findings of the Jury" report on September 11, 2008. The purpose of the Tribunal, which took place over four days in September 2007, was to provide a "just and unbiased forum for people who have faced the impact of projects and policies funded or promoted by the World Bank Group." The report leveled twenty-nine specific charges against the Bank, arguing that its projects and policies have caused "grievous and irreversible damage to those they intend to serve."
Prior to publishing the report, the Tribunal jury had released its preliminary findings following the event in 2007. In the initial findings, they charged the World Bank with causing "increased and needless human suffering since 1991." Specifically, the Tribunal accused the World Bank of failing in its "mission to reduce poverty", advocating policies "which contribute to increased hunger, contributing to the agricultural crisis, and deliberate posting of former staff in the Indian bureaucracy in order to influence policy and diluting Indian environmental legislation."
Read the full report:
"Findings of the Jury", Independent People’s Tribunal on the World Bank Group in India, September 11, 2008 (Acrobat pdf, 234 KB)
More Sources:
29 charges of indictment on the World Bank, September 23, 2008 (Meri News website)
Preliminary Findings by the Jury of the Independent People's Tribunal on the World Bank Group in India, September 24, 2007 (World Bank Tribunal website)
Independent People’s Tribunal charges World Bank with serious violations of democracy, human rights and sovereignty, September 26, 2007 (BIC website)