EIPR publishes paper on safeguard policies of World Bank

In response to the World Bank’s comprehensive review of the conditions it attaches to its loans, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), a member of ESCR-Net, published a paper reading into the second draft of the amendments to the social and environmental safeguards policies of the World Bank.

The paper provides an explanation of the Bank’s safeguard policies and the key amendments demanded by civil society organizations worldwide. It also explains why the amendments proposed by the World Bank fail to respond to the minimal requirements made by global civil society, why they are criticized by the United Nations, and even opposed by the World Bank’s Inspections Panel itself. Finally, the paper lists the recommendations presented by the Egyptian civil society coalition monitoring the World Bank in Egypt. These recommendations were presented to the Bank in February 2016.

Close attention is being paid by Egyptian civil society on the safeguards review process, given that these impact 80% of the Bank’s loans to Egypt.

The paper is currently available in Arabic here.