Why Is the World Bank Important to Activists Promoting ESC Rights?
The World Bank has an enormous impact on the lives and livelihoods of millions of people in the developing world. Projects it has financed have disrupted indigenous communities, forcibly displaced millions of poor people, and caused widespread environmental damage in the Bank s borrowing countries, including deforestation and biodiversity loss, air and water pollution, destruction of fisheries, and alteration of wetlands and riverine ecosystems. Its structural adjustment programs have required reductions in state spending, the dismantling of state agencies, the devaluation of currencies and the privatization of state-owned enterprises, which, in turn, have impoverished millions of people. The Bank s economic policy and sector reform loans have greatly influenced the content of legislation in its borrowing countries. It could be argued that the Bank has more influence on government budgets and operations than most legislative bodies. Meanwhile, most Bank loans and country assistance str
