Organizations call on the World Bank to Protect Indigenous Rights

This week 32 organizations called on the World Bank Board of Directors to urge them to ensure that the Bank takes all measures necessary to remedy harm caused to four Maasai villages displaced to make way for the Olkaria IV geothermal project in Kenya. The Kenya Electricity Expansion Project (KEEP) is scheduled to be reviewed by the World Bank February 16 following the finding that the Bank failed to comply with its internal policies on Indigenous Peoples and Involuntary Resettlement. The resettled communities lack land titles and adequate land for grazing, do not have essential infrastructure, and have not been provided with arrangements for livelihood restoration or benefit-sharing. The project is co-financed by the European Investment Bank (EIB), the French Development Agency (Agence Française de Développement – AFD), the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), and the Development Bank of Germany (Kreditanstalt für iederaufbau – KfW). Read more in our blog here.