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World Bank talks tough on
Nepal
By Emad Mekay
WASHINGTON - The World Bank (WB), under
pressure from development and human rights groups
to intervene in escalating human rights abuses in
Nepal, said Wednesday it was considering stopping
its projects and programs in the country if the
current political tension continued and
constitutional freedoms were not respected.
The international community and
international financial institutions are
responsible for funding more than 60% of Nepal's
development budget and more than 28% of its total
budgetary expenditures. Their influence over the
country is enormous, many observers say.
In a carefully worded statement, the WB
said it was monitoring events in Nepal closely and
could take further action in two months.
The WB's staff had reportedly written to
the organization's board of directors saying that
more time would be needed to make a "ground-level
assessment" of whether it can continue
implementing ongoing projects in Nepal.
The board expressed concerns about the
security situation in Nepal and whether WB
projects could actually be carried out. The board
also raised questions about the government's
ability to continue implementing difficult
economic reforms "in the absence of representative
mechanisms to build broad-based consensus".
The board, however, still broadly
supported the cautious approach proposed by
management.
"Management noted the board's
concerns and will continue to consult closely with
other development partners in assessing the
progress that the government makes in reform
implementation, as well as issues related to the
broader governance environment of the country,
including the rule of law and protection of human
rights," the WB said in the statement.
On
Wednesday, WB country director for Nepal Ken
Ohashi gave the government a window of one to two
months to show renewed commitment to reform and
governance issues. Ohashi said the WB will watch
whether the new government demonstrates genuine
commitment to the country's development vision as
expressed in the so-called Poverty Reduction
Strategy, an economic reform plan.
Watchdog groups welcomed the bank's new
"measured" posture.
"I'd call this a very
significant threat by the World Bank," said Mark
Schneider, senior vice-president of the
International Crisis Group (ICG) in Washington, a
group that has been calling for the WB to use its
influence in the country to help halt human rights
abuses.
"It essentially puts into question
the major resource flow through the poverty
reduction strategy to Nepal from the IFIs
[International Financial Institutions]," he said.
The WB and other public lenders like the
Asian Development Bank had come under fire for
failing to publicly denounce anti-democratic
measures taken by the country's king.
King
Gyanendra seized power, ordered the house arrest
of dozens of political leaders and disbanded the
government on February 1, claiming it was
necessary to end the Maoist insurgency.
He
immediately imposed a state of emergency in the
Himalayan country, one of the world's poorest. An
official policy of censorship was imposed, and the
king banned any criticism of his actions for six
months.
Human rights activists say that
abuses have only increased since then, and that
several political activists have disappeared.
Development experts say that with the
prospects for foreign trade or investment remain
very slim because of the small size of the economy
and the civil strife, so there is room to pressure
the government to roll back its abuses.
The WB says the country needs foreign aid
because of the high overall poverty ratio, about
40% of the country's 27 million people. With a per
capita income of only US$230 per year, Nepal
remains one of the poorest countries in the world.
Human rights groups have said that the
situation in Nepal has deteriorated sharply since
the royal coup.
The county has seen
continuing curbs on civil liberties, and more
restrictions on the freedom of the media.
The country's record on disappearances and
extra-judicial killings has become one of the
world's worst, human rights groups say. Hundreds
of political figures and activists have been
detained, and protests have been violently
suppressed.
In February, the ICG called on
international donors and lenders help to help stop
the abuses.
The group said that the key
countries and organizations involved in the
country - India, the United States, Britain and
the United Nations - need to work together to
strengthen a collapsing state and establish a plan
to deal with the Maoist insurgency.
"The
government is vulnerable to external pressure
because it is heavily dependent on foreign aid,"
said the group in its report.
A human
rights activist who spoke on condition of
anonymity told IPS that the WB and other
international financial institutions like the
International Monetary Fund and the Asian
Development Bank should work toward suspending all
assistance (including development assistance)
apart from humanitarian aid if the country does
not see a return to the constitutional process.
Non-governmental organizations have
recommended the use of financial "pressure
points".
The ICG, for one, called for a
freeze of all direct budgetary support to the
government and any commitment to forge new
agreements with the IFIs.
They also
demanded plans for a phased suspension and
withdrawal of foreign assistance.
Certain
effective actions have already been taken
internationally. India, the country's powerful
neighbor, has cut off military aid and Britain has
suspended delivery of a planned new package of
military assistance.
But until Wednesday's
World Bank statement, international financial
institutions had stayed clear of the controversy.
"We deliberately took a 'wait and see'
stance, not making any public statements or
seeking meetings with the ministers for the first
three weeks," Ohashi told the WB's board.
"It was designed to give the new cabinet
the space to demonstrate how it was going to
approach the development agenda, rather than
crowding that space with our ideas and advice," he
added.
His comments came after a meeting
of the WB's executive board in Washington, which
had summoned Ohashi for a briefing on the Nepal
situation.
While considered by some to be
"long overdue", the bank's statement was still
interpreted as a step in the right direction.
"I think this is a very positive statement
I am hoping that the king will recognize the
seriousness of this and move to remedy the
situation by restoring constitutional order and
reversing essentially the decision to eliminate
democratic institutions," Schneider said.
(Inter Press Service) |
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