"Holes in the World Bank’s safety net," 1 Sept 2016

…World Bank concluded a major policy review process to adopt a new Environmental and Social Framework to replace its suite of “safeguard” policies…The outcome…The safety net got bigger, and so did its holes…The policy now places social impact assessment and management more on par with that of environmental issues...The framework now also has provisions to prevent discrimination…It also includes a new labor standard…Now for the bad news, the new framework shifts from a compliance-based system…to a more flexible “adaptive management” framework…[K]ey requirements for Bank supervision and due diligence were eliminated…[T]he Bank declined to adopt a binding commitment to actually respect human rights…The new labor provisions are a striking example. “The new policy will…ask the borrowing countries to abide by some basic workers’ rights…” said Ahmad Awad, of the Jordan-based Phenix Center for Economics & Informatics Studies. “Unfortunately, it leaves workers at risk by failing to include core labor standards...”…