A long-suppressed report by the World Bank remains supportive of large-scale land acquisitions in developing countries by foreign investors, despite highlighting significant risks for vulnerable populations. Civil society groups have argued that the Bank is complicit in violations of human rights associated with the so-called ‘land grabs’
Land grabs
Land
News
World Bank work on land supports "a new form of colonialism"
A set of voluntary principles for agricultural investment in developing countries, launched by the World Bank and other institutions in April, veils the promotion of investors' interests at the expense of host populations, warn civil society groups.
Environment
News
IFC lends a hand in great "land grab"
As the International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Bank, announces plans to increase investment in agribusiness by up to 30 per cent in the next three years, NGO reports shed light on the IFC's role in 'land grabs' and flaws in its approach to the food crisis.
Rights
Commentary
World Bank legitimising illegal Israeli occupation of West Bank
The Bank's approach to development in Palestine hinges on the full acceptance of the status quo - e.g. continued occupation and the presence of the settlements and the wall - as well as joint projects that impose PNA-Israeli cooperation, often with a third international partner. Politically, these development projects threaten to legitimise Israeli claims in regards to the wall, Jerusalem, land annexation and settlements that have resulted in the fragmentation and ghettoisation of the West Bank
Land
News
Failing small farmers: The World Bank and agriculture
Stinging from a critique from its own evaluation unit on its work on agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa, the World Bank released its flagship annual report on agriculture in October to heavy criticism from civil society.
Accountability
News
Public campaigns to reform IDA
In Europe, Asia and the United States, civil society has campaigned for reform of the World Bank through the replenishment process of the International Development Association.
Land
Analysis
WDR 2008 preview: a Bank draft for agricultural development?
The World Bank recently released a near-final version of its 2008 World Development Report on 'agriculture for development', ahead of the official release on 19 October.
Land
Analysis
Concerns e-voiced: WDR on 'agriculture for development' in consultation process
The World Bank released a first draft of its latest World Development Report on 'agriculture for development' on 9 April.
IFI governance
News
Bank failed to apply safeguards in DRC: Inspection Panel
A preliminary investigation by the Inspection Panel has reveled serious concerns about Bank programmes to develop the rainforests of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Rights
News
Early repayment by paper firm relieves culpability for violence, says IFC
The International Finance Corporation has washed its hands of a violent eviction carried out by the Brazilian federal police in January on behalf of the pulp and paper company Aracruz Cellulose.
Featured briefings
6 April 2023
World Bank and IMF Spring Meetings 2023
5 April 2023
The IMF at the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: The need for governance reform
As the world celebrates the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, it is time the IMF’s shareholders use the opportunities provided by the anniversary and growing calls for reforms to the international financial architecture to redesign the IMF’s governance structures and programmes to ensure they are consistent with the commitments outlined in 1948 and with international human rights law.
5 April 2023
The global financial architecture and the international debt crisis: An urgent call for reform
Influence of unreformed international financial institutions and creditor interests in debt solutions in low- and middle-income countries plagued by delay and ineffective when undertaken.