EVENTS: Public hearing on the World Bank in The Hague

EVENTS: Public hearing on the World Bank in The Hague

The World Bank Campaign Europe is preparing a public hearing on the World Bank in co-operation with the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal. It will take place on the 15th of October in The Hague, the Netherlands, one week before the Annual Meetings of the World Bank and the IMF.

The World Bank is being criticised more strongly than ever by donor and borrower governments as well as civil society organisations and local communities for increasing rather than reducing poverty by imposing harmful economic policy conditions; for environmental devastation; for contributing to conflict; and for failing to respect local peoples’ rights.

2007 is the year where donor governments negotiate the 15th replenishment of funds to the concessional arm of the World Bank, the International Development Association (IDA). The conclusions of the Hearing will put donor governments under pressure to set more precise objectives for how taxpayers’ aid money should be spent, and to audit performance on a regular basis. The documentation of the Hearing will also provide a solid source to feed an intensive debate about the future of the organisation, the current development model and potential alternatives.

Witnesses from all Southern continents will give testimony of the impacts of World Bank policies and practices, especially in the areas of conditionality and fossil fuel project funding. Well-known and respected experts will listen to testimonies from all parts of the world about the impact of World Bank financing and ask questions. In the evening, the expert panel will convene to draft a declaration to be presented in a press conference the next morning.

There will be a live video streamlining for the entire event on www.worldbankcampaigneurope.org. Already now you can cast a vote to tell your development minister to act now and to seriously question and change World Bank policies. Change cannot wait!

For more information please get in touch with Juliane Westphal jwestphal@eurodad.org.