Letter to World Bank Group Board regarding IFC’s response to project-related child sexual abuse at Bridge schools
Bonsucro’s Letter to Bridges Across Borders Cambodia
One year on: No remedy or accountability for survivors of sexual abuse at World Bank Group funded schools in Kenya
Joint Statement by Inclusive Development International and Accountability Counsel (March 13, 2025) – One year ago today, World Bank Group President Ajay Banga apologized to survivors of child sexual abuse at Bridge International Academies, acknowledging “the trauma they experienced” at the World Bank Group-funded schools and committed to supporting them. A March 2024 report from […]
Statement of International Civil Society Organizations in response to the abduction of Stephen Kwikiriza, community environmental defender in Uganda
This is a joint statement by over 115 international civil society organizations to call upon the Ugandan authorities to ensure the immediate and unconditional release of Stephen Kwikiriza, who has been held incommunicado since his abduction by plain clothed officers in Kampala on June 4th 2024. On June 4th 2024, Stephen Kwikiriza, a member of […]
External Investigation Into Alleged IFC Cover-Up Must Be Robust and Transparent
On March 13, 2024, World Bank Group (WBG) President Ajay Banga announced an external investigation of allegations of interference in the IFC Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO) process as relates to IFC’s investments in Bridge International Academies. We welcome President Banga’s announcement. It represents a positive, albeit belated, response to a call made by 35 international […]
IFC Response to Child Sexual Abuse Investigation Fails Survivors; Evades Responsibility
Today the World Bank released a scandalous internal investigation of child sexual abuse allegations at private schools funded by its private sector arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC). Although World Bank President Ajay Banga has expressed contrition, the IFC’s official management response fails to offer meaningful remedy to the survivors of abuse that it turned […]
Demanding Accountability: Response to Reports of a Child Sexual Abuse Cover Up at the World Bank
*This statement was sent to World Bank president Ajay Banga and its board of directors. We received a response from IFC head Makhtar Diop, which is available here. Our response to that letter is available is here. The undersigned organizations are gravely concerned about the recent media report of child sexual abuse at Bridge International […]
Experts call on Supreme Court to reverse decision protecting IFC’s absolute immunity
(Washington, DC) – On Tuesday, nine NGOs and experts filed an amicus brief before the US Supreme Court in support of the Indian fishing communities and farmers who are challenging the International Finance Corporation (IFC)’s claim to absolute immunity in Jam v. IFC. The amici call for the Supreme Court to reverse the lower court’s decision, […]
Major Breakthrough in Mediation Between Hoang Anh Gia Lai Company and Fourteen Indigenous Villages
(Siem Reap) – A major breakthrough was reached in the mediation between fourteen Cambodian indigenous communities and the Vietnamese rubber firm Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAGL), during meetings held this week in Siem Reap, Cambodia. On 15-19 September 2015, community representatives of fourteen indigenous villages affected by HAGL’s land concessions in Ratanakiri province, company representatives of HAGL and its subsidiaries, and the communities’ advisors, including Inclusive […]
Time for a mind shift at ADB on displacing the poor
Every year, millions of people around the world are forcibly displaced from their lands, homes and livelihoods to make way for large-scale development projects. Most often those who are forced to sacrifice their place on Earth for both public and private interests are among the poorest and most vulnerable people in society, and thus the […]