Fwd: Action Alert! Stop the World Bank's China-Tibet Resettlement Project

[Guest guest]

RamakrishnaVedanta , clau8787 <clau8787@e...> wrote:

Action Alert! Stop the World Bank's China-Tibet Resettlement

Project

Wed, 28 Jun 2000 18:58:3

owner-savetibet-list@s...

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PLEASE CIRCULATE WIDELY

 

June 27, 2000

 

Dear Friend of Tibet:

 

IT'S TIME TO PULL OUT ALL THE STOPS! This is the

final stretch in the campaign to stop the World Bank's

China-Tibet resettlement project -- the project His

Holiness the Dalai Lama refers to as international

funding of China's policy of cultural genocide in his

homeland.

 

The Bank's Board of Directors will decide the

FINAL OUTCOME of the resettlement project on

July 6th, 2000. We need YOU to raise your voice

NOW and tell the Board NO. No project, no fix-it plan,

no compromise for this fatally flawed project. Please

focus all of your energies on mobilizing your friends

and family to help STOP THE PROJECT today.

 

For rapid fax and e-mail action and the latest

updates, go on-line to

http://savetibet.wego.com/go/wego.pages.page?groupId=38613&view=page&p

ageId=53

790&folderId=53789&panelId=-1&action=view.

 

BACKGROUND

The World Bank's independent Inspection Panel Report

(IP Report) on their 8-month investigation the project

was delivered to Bank management and Board members on

April 28th. On June 22nd, Bank Management sent their

response to the IP Report to the Board of Executives.

 

Though the IP Report and Management's Response are

still technically confidential, the Financial Times

obtained a copy and published the Executive Summary

of the IP Report on their website. It can now be

found at

http://savetibet.wego.com/go/wego.pages.page?groupId=38613&view=page&p

ageId=24

7349&folderId=53789&panelId=-1&action=view

 

 

The Executive Summary is a scathing indictment of the

project. It documents a "climate of fear" in the

project area - Tibetans are unable to speak freely

about their opinions about the project for fear of

reprisal. The Summary also enumerates severe violations

of 6 out of 9 of the Bank's most fundamental safeguard

policies, including those on Indigenous Peoples, Resettlement,

Environmental

Assessment and Information Disclosure

Policies, among others. Moreover, the Report apparently

raises important questions about fundamental institutional

problems, and in particular the chronic weaknesses in the

Bank's application of its environmental and social policies

in China.

 

TAKE ACTION NOW!!! Here's how:

 

To send a rapid fax to the Board of Directors,

to President Wolfensohn, and to Vice President Kassum.

Go online to

http://savetibet.wego.com/go/wego.pages.page?groupId=38613&view=page&p

ageId=53

820&folderId=53789&panelId=-1&action=view

 

Also, please:

 

- Contact your Treasury Department/Finance Ministry by

phone, fax, e-mail.

 

- Mobilize sympathetic Members of Parliament/Congress

to write letters to your Government's Treasury Department,

to President Wolfensohn, and to the entire Board of Executives.

 

- On all written correspondence, please CC: Peter Stephens

from the Office of External Affairs Tel. 202.458.2281;

Fax 202.522.3405; <pstephens1@w...> and

ICT, fax 202.785.4343.

 

TALKING POINTS

 

1. Read the Inspection Panel Report.

 

2. Demand that the project is withdrawn or cancelled

in its entirety. The Board should not allow Management

to try and "fix" the problems with the project, but

should cancel it outright. No amount of tinkering around

the edges will fix the fundamental flaws in the project

design, nor can they adequately address the "climate of fear"

that pervades the project region and will continue to undermine

the principle of full and informed consultation.

 

Remind them that if this project were to go forward it

would demonstrate to the international community that

the Bank lacks the commitment to enforce its own policies

and standards; it would result in increased public

and governmental scrutiny of other Bank projects in China

and elsewhere, particularly those that involve resettlement;

and it would put an international stamp of approval on

China's policy of population transfer into occupied Tibet.

 

THANKS TO ALL OF YOU WHO TAKE THE TIME TO HELP TIBET!

 

International Campaign for Tibet

1825 K Street NW, Suite 520

Washington, DC 20006

tel. 202-785-1515 * fax. 202-785-4343

http://www.savetibet.org

 

Join ICT and the Dalai Lama in Washington, DC Sunday, July 2.

Raise your voice on our "March for Tibet" on Saturday, July 1.

Find out more at 1-888-TIBETNOW or http://www.savetibet.org

 

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