Preventing Negative Human Rights Impacts at the World Bank 12.19.13.
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Transcript of Preventing Negative Human Rights Impacts at the World Bank 12.19.13.
• Manageable prognostic process
• Urgently needed
• World Bank standards fail to meet US expectations
Contents for Review: Recognizing & mitigating human rights risks at World Bank Projects
Mon State Fast Facts(Government of Myanmar Household Survey 2011)
• 50% of poor households are landless
• 77% of households have no access to credit
• 38% of residents live in slum dwellings (lack of sanitation, water, space, durability)
• 24% of children suffer from wasting (malnutrition)
• 61% of household heads have not completed primary school
Intense Militarization(TBC 2012)
• Tatmadaw Regional Command
• Tatmadaw Light Infantry Division
• Tatmadaw Military Operation Command
• Tatmadaw Battalion Headquarters
• BFG / Militia Headquarters
• Tatmadaw Outpost
• WB Thaton Power Project
• Villages
• Cultivation
• Dense Forest
• Rubber Plantation
• Sparse Forest (with some rubber)
• Swamp
• Water body
Populations and Farmland
Environmental Dangers & Degradation
• Legacy problems for future construction
• Risk to agriculture• Risk to workers• Risk to communities
“Safety First”
• No occupational health and safety programming
• No accident or spill logs
• No workforce training• No management
changes planned
Kayin Livelihoods in and around Thaton Plant
• No employment• Lost lands• Dwindling
opportunities • Poverty &
Discrimination
Elements of Analysis
• Problematic Context• Potential for
problems in project• Unknown company
Project(Gas-fired Electricity Plant)
Company(Unknown, but funded
by the world bank)
Context (Mon State, Myanmar: Poor, ethnic minority population with low
skill levels)
Assessing Impacts
CategorySub-Categories Rights
Topics
Labor
Wages
21 Context Topics, 13 Project Topics
UnionsExploitive PracticesDiscriminationLabor LawsProject employment profile
Health
Health Regulations
31 Context Topics, 18 Project Topics
Underlying DeterminantsAccess and InfrastructureFoodInfectious DiseasesHIARisks to Safety & Health
Environ-ment
Surface and Groundwater 33 Context Topics, 30 Project Topics
Geology/EcosystemAir
Political/ Legal
Form of Government
28 Context Topics, 9 Project Topics
Strength of Civil SocietyLaw SystemsStrength of GovernanceNondiscrimination RegulationsCivil War/Conflict/Security
Economic/ Cultural/ Social
Demographics/ Psychology
30 Context Topics, 21 Project Topics
EconomicsIndigenous PeoplesEducationNational CultureLocal CulturesLand Project Occupies
Catalogs Rights
Context Rights are shown to be positively protected or negatively enforced at baseline, including Freedom from Child Labor, Freedom of Religion, Indigenous Rights, Unionization Rights
Project Rights are shown to be positively or negatively impacted by the Project, including child labor, nondiscrimination, unionization rights and free expressionCompany
ScoresBaseline
28% of children ages 5 to 17 are economically active. The Government keeps no statistics on child labor, seeing it as a complex issue involving family needs. Families rent out children for labor at a rate of $7/month.
-15
In the Project area around 7,500 minors between the ages of 10 and 14 work at least half-days in some sort of informal job. Local children generally enter the labor market between the ages of 10 and 12.
-15
Bolivian law sets the minimum age for employment at 14 years. Children ages 6-14 may legally work as apprentices for a maximum of two years and must simultaneously attend school at normal school hours. There is minimal enforcement of these laws, as the Bolivian government sees child labor as a complex challenge and a symptom of other economic woes in the country.
3
Impac
t
Child labor is mentioned in GRI reporting, but no due diligence has been conducted to ensure that children are excluded from Project supply chain, particularly in unregulated jewelry factories and tailors that provide products to the Project.
-3
The company has no history employing child labor or using child labor in its supply chain 5
Baseline Right Impact
-9 Freedom from Child Labor 0.66
-12 to -25 -0.5 to -12 0.5 to 12 12 to 25
Important Process, Small Cost
Cost of the Project:
Cost of an HRIA:
$140,000,000
$40,000-65,000
0.036% of project budget
Summary:A Letter to Treasury • The WB should respect human rights across
projects, programs and activities
• It should conduct due diligence to foresee and prevent negative human rights impacts associated with World Bank projects
• It should enhance safeguards, including monitoring