[mgj-discuss] Fw: Narmada Sign-on Letter to World Bank

[Dan Beeton]

----- Original Message -----
From: <owner-irn-ngos at netvista.net>
Sent: Wednesday, July 23, 2003 2:10 PM
Subject: Narmada Sign-on Letter to World Bank


> *** apologies for cross-postings ***
>
> July 23, 2003
>
> Dear friends and colleagues -
>
> Following please find a sign-on letter to WB President Wolfensohn
regarding
> the human rights violations that are taking place in the Narmada
> Valley.  The letter calls on the Bank to take responsibility for bringing
> this project into compliance with the provisions of all applicable laws
and
> policies, including the terms of World Bank policies and the loan and
> credit agreements.
>
> ****Please send endorsements by August 2nd to Will Van Sant,
> wvansant at nature.berkeley.edu ****
>
> The situation is tense, because this year's monsoon rains have started,
and
> the height of the Sardar Sarovoar dam was raised again this year.  At this
> level, the reservoir will start to inundate the fertile Nimad plains.  As
> noted in the letter, thousands of families face submergence this monsoon
> season, and there has been no meaningful or effective resettlement and
> rehabilitation.
>
> Please do what you can to support the struggle for justice and
> accountability in the Narmada Valley.  As a first step, please make the
> time to read the attached letter and sign on if you can. For more
> information, including documents that are referred to in the attached
> letter to Wolfensohn, go to www.narmada.org. If you are interested in
being
> part of a growing mobilization to hold the World Bank accountable and
> demand effective remedial measures, please let us know.
>
> We are hoping to send this letter on August 4th, so please send any
> endorsements (name, organization, country) no later than August 2nd to
Will
> Van Sant, wvansant at nature.berkeley.edu.
>
> We would be grateful if you could pass this along to others (with
apologies
> for cross-postings) who may be interested in signing on so that we can
make
> a strong statement of solidarity as the people in the Valley face the grim
> reality of rising waters in the coming weeks.
>
> Many thanks for your support.
> In solidarity,
>
> Dana and Paddy
>
> Dana Clark,
> International Accountability Project
> danaclark7 at mindspring.com
>
> and
>
> Patrick McCully,
> International Rivers Network
> patrick at irn.org
> www.irn.org
>
> __________________________________
>
> International Accountability
> Project                                     International Rivers Network
>
> DRAFT  -- FOR SIGN-ON
>
> James D. Wolfensohn, President
> The World Bank
> 1818 H Street
> Washington, DC 20433
>
> Dear Mr. Wolfensohn:
>
> On behalf of the undersigned organizations, we are writing to you to
> register our concerns about serious human rights violations in the Narmada
> Valley and to call on your intervention in a project that is badly out of
> compliance with World Bank policy requirements and the terms of the loan
> and credit agreements.
>
> The conditions of the World Bank's loan and credit agreements continue to
> apply to a project until it is repaid.  The Bank has supervision and
> monitoring requirements to ensure that Bank policies are complied with
> during project preparation and implementation, and it has an obligation to
> assist and oblige the borrower to bring troubled projects into compliance
> with Bank policies.
>
> In the case of the Sardar Sarovar (Narmada) Project, Mr. Ibrahim Shihata,
> then-General Counsel, in March 1993 advised Vice President for South Asia
> Joe Wood as follows:
>
> In the brief Board discussion today of the cancellation of the Bank's loan
> for the Narmada Project, the impression was left that the Government of
> India was no longer legally obligated to carry out its obligations under
> the loan agreement. . . .this is not the case. Section 6.06 of the General
> Conditions applicable to all Bank loans . . . provides that
> "[n]otwithstanding any cancellation or suspension, all the provisions of
> the Loan Agreement and the Guarantee Agreement shall continue in full
force
> and effect except as specifically provided in this Article."
>
> The loans have not been repaid, and the policies and loan and credit
> agreements therefore continue to apply.  The situation in the Narmada
> Valley is, once again, reaching a point of crisis as this year's monsoon
> rains begin to fall and thousands of families face submergence from the
> rising Sardar Sarovar reservoir.  There is nowhere for people facing
> submergence to go. The resettlement colonies are not prepared. There is
not
> enough arable land available even to replace that which has already been
> submerged. There is not an accurate and comprehensive survey of the
numbers
> of people to be displaced or of their assets, including land that they own
> or utilize, nor is there a comprehensive and realistic resettlement plan.
>
> In the case of Sardar Sarovar, the Bank has largely failed to exercise its
> supervision and monitoring obligations.  We submit that the World Bank
must
> require and assist the borrowers -- the government of India and the three
> state governments -- to bring the project into compliance with the terms
of
> the resettlement policy, the indigenous/tribal peoples policy, the credit
> and loan agreements signed by the World Bank and the government of India
> and the three state governments, and the terms of the National Water
> Disputes Tribunal Award (which is incorporated by reference in the loan
and
> credit agreements).
>
> In particular, the safeguard policies require that involuntary
resettlement
> is avoided and minimized, that indigenous people's rights are respected,
> and that an adequate and comprehensive resettlement and rehabilitation
plan
> is in place and is being properly implemented -- and here it is important
> to caution about the disparity between words on paper and the reality on
> the ground. The Bank must ensure that people who have been displaced
> receive assistance to regain and improve their standard of living, and,
> according to the specific terms of the Sardar Sarovar Project, it must
> ensure that all people who face the risk of submergence must be moved,
> resettled, and fully rehabilitated at least six months before the monsoon
> that threatens them with submergence.  Those requirements are being
> flagrantly violated in the Narmada valley.
>
> The Bank must utilize its ongoing relationship with the Government of
India
> and the state governments of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, and Maharashtra to
> call for full and fair resettlement and rehabilitation in compliance with
> the law and policy framework. This relationship was described in a letter
> from Country Director Edwin Lim to Medha Patkar of the Narmada Bachao
> Andolan as follows "Through our engagements in different sectors,
including
> in the states of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, we continue to
> work to strengthen Governments' and other agencies capacities to address
> social and environmental impacts of development projects."  (Letter dated
> March 7, 2002).
>
> We are enclosing for your information a report on the human rights
> violations in the Narmada Valley issued by the Delhi-based Habitat
> International Coalition. We also enclose a copy of a recent letter from
> Dana Clark to all members of the Bank's Board on behalf of the
> International Accountability Project. The letter summarizes the ways in
> which this project is in violation of international human rights law,
World
> Bank policies, and the requirements of national and state laws and
> policies.  In addition, the letter urges the Board to call on Management
to
> report to the Board on the content of its supervision and monitoring of
the
> Sardar Sarovar Project, including the present status of dam construction,
> resettlement and rehabilitation, and whether the project has received the
> proper environmental clearances.  (Both of these documents, along with
> additional information about the situation in the valley, are available at
> www.narmada.org.)
>
> The specific demands of the people of the Narmada Valley are that there be
> a moratorium on any further increase in the dam height leading to
arbitrary
> displacement of affected people until such time as the project is brought
> into compliance with all applicable laws and policies.
>
> In addition, we are calling for the Bank to initiate a Development
> Effectiveness Remedial Team (DERT) to improve supervision and monitoring
> and to implement remedial measures and problem solving.  The DERT should
> include experts from outside the World Bank Group and should have
community
> representatives, including people who have directly experienced
> development-induced displacement. The DERT should report to the Board, and
> be independent of Management.  Reports of the DERT should be made publicly
> available in the project area, on the web, and through the Bank's
InfoShop.
>
> The objective of the team would be to develop and oversee the
> implementation of appropriate remedial measures worked out in consultation
> with local affected people, their designated representatives, and other
> stakeholders. It would work to ensure that the Sardar Sarovar Project was
> brought into compliance with the Bank's policies, and foster greater
> understanding of and respect for those policies by Bank staff and
> borrowers. The DERT could help the Bank address its own apparent lack of
> capacity in providing proper guidance and institutional support to the
> resettlement components of projects with which it is involved.
>
> Activities of the DERT could be financed out of the Bank's net income,
> which in fiscal year 2002 was $2.78 billion. Local people have long borne
> the brunt of the costs of noncompliance, including hunger, drowning, lost
> lands, lost livestock, lost livelihoods, arrest and imprisonment,
> homelessness, beatings, and other violations of their rights. The costs of
> assessing and implementing lagging R&R provisions and in conducting needed
> environmental and baseline socio-economic studies for Sardar Sarovar
should
> be recognized as a cost of the failure to ensure that the project was
> designed in accordance with Bank policies or to provide effective
> supervision to date.
>
> We thank you for your prompt and timely interest in this matter, and look
> forward to the courtesy of a reply.
>
> Sincerely,
>
>
> Dana Clark                               Patrick McCully
> IAP                                          IRN
>
> cc:  William Shuerch, US Treasury Department
>         Medha Patkar, Narmada Bachao Andolan
>
>
> On behalf of:
>
> [to sign on, please send name, institutional affiliation, and country to
> Will Van Sant at wvansant at nature.berkeley.edu by August 2nd]
>
>
>
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