Human Rights Brief
A Legal Resource for the International Human Rights CommunityFall 1994
World Bank Inspection Panel Update
by Samir Desai
In April 1994, the World Bank announced the appointment of Ernst-Günther Bröder, Alvaro Umaña Quesada, and Richard Etter Bissell to the Bank's new Inspection Panel. Mr. Bröder was selected as Chairman of the committee. The Inspection Panel was established in September 1993 in order to increase accountability for the consequences of Bank activities. It is designed to address complaints against the Bank which allege that the institution detrimentally affected the rights or interests of the claimant, and/or failed to follow its own procedures in Bank- supported projects. [See related story, World Bank Creates Inspection Panel in the Spring 1994 issue (Vol. 1, No. 1) of The Human Rights Brief.]
In August 1994, the Panel published its Operating Procedures, which is now available from The Inspection Panel, 1818 H Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20433, Ph. (202) 458-5200; Fax. (202) 522- 0916. Washington College of Law (WCL) professor Daniel Bradlow, who was instrumental in the development of the panel, and WCL professor Rick Wilson are following the developments of the Panel.
In October 1994, former WCL LL.M. student Gopal Siwakoti '92 filed the first complaint against a Bank project, the Arun Dam in Nepal. A member of the Arun Concerned Group (ACG), a Nepali nongovernmental organization, Siwakoti and ACG claim that the dam project is both detrimental to the Himalayan environment and financially inappropriate. The Human Rights Brief will feature the Arun Dam Project complaint in its Winter 1995 issue.
