Preventing Negative Human Rights Impacts at the World Bank12.19.13

• 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

Unsafe Chemical Handling

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

Thank you.