Public Statements

Les rebelles du M23 soutenus par le Rwanda ont récemment pris Goma, la capitale provinciale du Nord-Kivu en République démocratique du Congo (RDC). Il s’agit de la dernière escalade en trois décennies de conflit armé dans l’est de la RDC, qui a fait plus de 6 millions de morts depuis 1996.

Rwanda-backed M23 rebels have recently captured Goma, the provincial capital of North Kivu in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). This is the latest escalation in the three decades of armed conflict in Eastern DRC, which has caused over 6 million deaths since 1996.

We are deeply alarmed by President Trump’s recent statements that appear to endorse and plan for forced Palestinian displacement leading to the ethnic cleansing of the Gaza Strip.

Nous écrivons ce jour pour exprimer notre profonde inquiétude concernant le décret provincial publié le 13 novembre 2024, par les autorités provinciales du Sud-Kivu. Ce décret, tout en s'attaquant à d'importantes menaces environnementales, risque d’avoir aussi pour conséquence une résurgence des violences à l'encontre des peuples autochtones Batwa dans et autour du parc national du Kahuzi-Biega (PNKB), en République démocratique du Congo.

We write to express our concern regarding the Provincial Decree issued on November 13th, 2024, by the Government of South Kivu. This decree, while addressing important environmental threats, risks facilitating a resurgence of violence towards the Batwa Indigenous Peoples in and around the Kahuzi-Biega National Park (PNKB), in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. We fear that this order’s indiscriminate prohibition of all individuals including the Batwa Indigenous Peoples, will be used to legitimate violence against their communities in and around the PNKB.

As civil society organizations that have supported communities around the world to use dispute resolution processes at Independent Accountability Mechanisms (IAMs), we welcome the External Review Team’s recommendations for strengthening the World Bank’s Accountability Mechanism - the Inspection Panel and the Dispute Resolution Service (DRS). This statement focuses primarily on the implementation of dispute resolution since the reforms to accountability at the World Bank added the DRS.

In recent weeks, the Tanzanian government has undertaken a concerted media campaign to discredit the Oakland Institute’s findings about egregious human rights abuses and forced displacement, carried out to expand Ruaha National Park (RUNAPA) as a “tourism asset.” Not surprisingly, the Tanzanian Association of Tourism Operators (TATO), whose lifeline is safari tourism and hunting, joined the chorus of blatantly false claims in defense of the government’s actions.

Dear President Banga, As incoming World Bank President, you were tasked with leading the institution’s reform – or “Evolution”-- process to better position the Bank to address global challenges like climate change.

En la jornada inaugural de la Conferencia sobre la Tierra 2024 del Banco Mundial, organizaciones de productoras y productores de alimentos a pequeña escala, Pueblos Indígenas, trabajadoras y trabajadores, comunidades de base y la sociedad civil denuncian al Banco Mundial como uno de los principales actores del acaparamiento de tierras y la destrucción de los ecosistemas. Exigen medidas eficaces para hacer efectivo el derecho a la tierra y los territorios, incluida la reforma agraria.

On the opening day of the World Bank’s 2024 Land Conference, organizations of small-scale food producers, Indigenous Peoples, workers, grassroots communities, and civil society denounce the World Bank as a major actor of land grabbing and ecosystem destruction. They call for effective measures to realize the right to land and territories, including agrarian reform. From May 13 to 17, 2024, the World Bank is organizing a land conference in Washington DC, with the theme “Securing Land Tenure and Access for Climate Action”.