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Exiting The Disaster, Evading The Responsibility? Wadi Al-Qamar -- The Moon Valley, Suzan Nada
Exiting The Disaster, Evading The Responsibility? Wadi Al-Qamar -- The Moon Valley, Suzan Nada
Perspectives
This essay explores a case that delivered no results for the complainants, where harm was not prevented, and where stakeholders who filed the complaint were not compensated. Investigated by the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO) of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Wadi al-Qamar case illustrates some of the limitations of accountability mechanisms in limiting the harms caused directly or indirectly by projects in which the International Financial Institutions (IFIs) invest.
Legal Risk And Accountability In Development Finance: Lessons From Jam V. International Finance Corporation, Michelle Harrison, Shannon Marcoux
Legal Risk And Accountability In Development Finance: Lessons From Jam V. International Finance Corporation, Michelle Harrison, Shannon Marcoux
Perspectives
In a landmark decision in 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Jam v. International Finance Corporation that international organizations like the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private lending arm of the World Bank Group, can be sued in U.S. courts, ending the “absolute immunity” from suit that they had long claimed. The Jam lawsuit arose out of IFC’s gross mishandling of the Tata Mundra coal-fired power plant project in Gujarat, India, which has destroyed the livelihoods, environment, and way of life of local communities living in its shadow. The lawsuit, and especially the clash between IFC’s sweeping assertions of …
World Bank's Roadmap And The Inspection Panel's Human Rights Responsibilities, Juan Pablo Bohoslavsky, C.P. Chandrasekhar
World Bank's Roadmap And The Inspection Panel's Human Rights Responsibilities, Juan Pablo Bohoslavsky, C.P. Chandrasekhar
Perspectives
The World Bank has been under pressure to devise a process for “evolving” its mission, operations, and resources, acknowledging that decades of engagement with low- and middle-income countries has resulted, paradoxically and contrary to its official mission, in a “crisis of development.” The Bank bluntly notes in the opening to its paper “Evolving the World Bank Group’s Mission, Operations, and Resources: A Roadmap,” issued in December 2022, “after decades of progress, growth and poverty reduction have stalled.” Indeed, this “crisis of development” threatens to unleash political instability around the world.
Everybody Wants To Rule The World: Central Bank Digital Currencies In The Era Of Decoupling The World’S Two Largest Economies, James M. Cooper
Everybody Wants To Rule The World: Central Bank Digital Currencies In The Era Of Decoupling The World’S Two Largest Economies, James M. Cooper
Faculty Scholarship
Some 130 central banks around the world are experimenting with various levels of a central bank digital currency (“CBDC”), a digitized form of a sovereign-backed, national currency that is a liability of that country’s central bank. Unlike fiat currency, CBDCs are trackable and potentially subject to interference and even freezing by government authorities. CBDCs will affect citizens’ control over commerce, payments, and savings, and impact their privacy rights. The Chinese government has piloted, refined, and rolled out its own CBDC called the Digital Currency/Electronic Payment initiative (“DC/EP”), also known as the digital yuan or e-CNY. The Chinese government is far …