Accountability

News

IFC failed to act on “forced evictions”?

3 October 2012

In August, the Compliance Advisor/Ombudsman (CAO), the accountability mechanism of the International Finance Corporation (IFC, the World Bank’s private sector arm), launched an audit into its $30 million investment in palm oil and food company Corporación Dinant in Honduras, that “merits further enquiry”. The case was initiated by the CAO vice president in April in response to NGO concerns, including allegations that Dinant “conducted, facilitated or supported forced evictions of farmers”, the “inappropriate use of private and public security forces”, and “that IFC failed to identify early enough and/or respond appropriately to the situation of Dinant in the context of the declining political and security situation”.