Call for citizens’ movement against WB immunity bill; Political, economic interests in peril, observe civil society groups

Sunday, May 15, 2005

Staff Correspondent - New Age
http://www.newagebd.com/2005/may/15/front.html

A government move to grant legal immunity to the World Bank is detrimental to the political and economic interests of the country and the citizens believing in national sovereignty and uninterrupted economic growth should, therefore, put up serious resistance against the move.
   The observation was made by different civil society groups representing economists, lawyers, journalists, development activists, industrial workers, human rights activists and peasant groups on Saturday at a seminar that came to consensus that the International Financial Organisations (Amendment) Bill providing legal immunity to the World Bank be withdrawn immediately.

   The Alliance against World Bank Immunity, a conglomeration of more than 40 organisations, organised the seminar — ‘Immunity for the World Bank: In the Perspective of Development and Rights’ — at the auditorium of the Local Government Engineering Department. New Age and Sangbad participated as media partners of the campaign.
   The seminar was organised against the backdrop of the recent approval of a draft bill by the parliamentary standing committee on the finance ministry. The bill is now ready to be placed in the parliament.
   The speakers pointed out at the seminar that the World Bank does not enjoy institutional immunity from judicial proceedings in any country of its operations and its mother law does not permit such immunity.
   They observed that the lending agency is neither a diplomatic institution nor a development agency, rather it is a financial institution and thus it cannot claim institutional immunity from judicial proceedings, the seminar observed.
   The executive editor of New Age, Nurul Kabir, while moderating the programme, said New Age, a newspaper committed to the secular democratic politics of rights, equity and justice, finds it important to express solidarity with the democratic campaign against the imposition of politically driven economic prescriptions by the international lending agencies including the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, on countries like Bangladesh.
   ‘One cannot fight for democracy without fighting against the World Bank and the IMF, which stand in the way of national sovereignty at the political level and unhindered growth at the economic level,’ he said.
   The seminar was addressed by economist Anu Muhammad, researcher and lawyer Salimullah Khan, economist Sharif-e-Kafi, lawyer Mizanur Rahman Apel, development activists Aminur Rahman, Arup Rahee of Lokoj, AFM Imamuddin, Mohammad Zakaria of Action Aid and Swapan Bhuiyan and Shamima Nasrin of Garments Workers’ Federation.
   There is a myth about the World Bank as a development institution, which is accountable to its members, said Anu.
   He said the lending agency is a corporate body of the United States. ‘It is merely an extension of the US Treasury Department and its president is always appointed by the United States.’
   Anu said there was a direct link between wars, destruction, and death, and the lending agency. He pointed out that Robert McNamara, dubbed as a champion of development, was the US defence secretary during the Vietnam War.
   The next president, he pointed out, was the deputy defence secretary during the Iraq invasion.
   The World Bank is in no way a development organisation, it rather works as an agent for commercial interests of the developed world, he said. ‘No country has so far achieved economic development following the lending agency’s prescriptions and legal immunity would provide it with absolute powers to propagate their programmes of destruction.’
   He said it is precisely due to the bank’s prescription that Bangladesh has to purchase natural gas from international oil companies at a high rate and that too in foreign currency. ‘We buy gas at a rate Tk 150 per unit, while the production cost should not be more than Tk 30.’
   Considering that it might have to face legal consequences for its crimes, the World Bank is rightly anxious to get legal immunity, Anu said. ‘But even such immunity would not be able to protect the bank from public wrath. It will be compelled to stand before people’s court.’
   Salimullah contested the traditional concepts of development. ‘We must rid ourselves of the phantoms of development that the bank has implanted.’
   In his keynote paper, Rezaul said, ‘The proposed immunity is contradictory to our natural right to justice as citizens according to the constitution of Bangladesh.’
   Ahmed Swapan Mahmud, in his keynote paper, explained the development perspectives saying the bank’s prescriptions did not help any country to achieve economic development.
   Jakir, executive director of the Innovators and also an assistant professor of Bangladesh Studies of Rajshahi University, in his keynote paper, said, ‘The immunity bill must be withdrawn from parliament and the World Bank must face legal consequences for the detrimental impacts of its programmes have had.’
   Aminur said the immunity would harm people’s basic right to go for legal action against the bank.
   If the government gives the immunity, the lending agency will use Bangladesh as an example of precedence and compel other poor nations to give it immunity as well, he said.
   Sharif-e-Kafi said, ‘We must remember that most of the loans from the lending agency is not used for development.
   There are rather used to run the government, pay for imports and so on.’
   He said a negligible portion of those loans is actually used in development work or projects.
   Apel quoted a letter between two ministers of the government that categorically clarifies that a senior legal adviser of the World Bank had finalised the draft bill at a meeting with a minister.
   He added that the first draft was not satisfactory to the bank and its immunity had been made more concrete with some additions to the proposed bill.
   Shamima Nasrin, representing the Federation of Garment Workers, said, ‘We cannot let the bill pass. The bank must be accountable for the miseries of the thousands of workers it propagated.’
   She called for an all out movement demanding that the government withdraw the bill from parliament.
   The Alliance against World Bank Immunity will hold a rally at the National Press Club the day after the bill is passed and demonstration rallies from May 15 to 18 at Shahbagh at 3:00pm every day protesting against the bill.
   The bill titled ‘The International Financial Organisations (Amendment) Act, 2004’ was placed in parliament in October amid widespread criticism by the opposition political parties, civil society and rights groups.
   The executive editor of Sangbad, Manzurul Ahsan Bulbul, delivered introductory remarks at the seminar. He said the proposal to provide immunity from the legal process is inconsistent with the rule of law that does not allow extra privileges to any party.