In developing countries around the globe, forest dwellers, poor villagers and other vulnerable populations claim the World Bank — the planet’s oldest and most powerful development lender — has left a trail of misery.
Dams, power plants, conservation programs and other projects sponsored by the World Bank have pushed millions of people out of their homes or off their lands or threatened their livelihoods. In some cases, governments supported by World Bank money have arrested, beaten and even killed people who objected to being forced from their homes, according to interviews and official complaints.
They’ve been put at risk because the bank has repeatedly violated its own rules for protecting people who are in the path of development projects, an investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, The Huffington Post, The GroundTruth Project and other ICIJ media partners has found.
