"With Support from the US Treasury, World Bank Reinvents Tainted Aid Program for Ethiopia"

Moral Bankruptcy: World Bank Reinvents Tainted Aid Program for Ethiopia, a new report released today by the Oakland Institute, exposes the shameful reinvention of one of the Bank’s most problematic programs in Ethiopia. The report also reveals that the US Treasury violated congressional law when voting in favor of this program...

For years, the PBS program has been associated with human rights abuses and the forced relocation of indigenous communities while paving the road for large-scale land grabs. These issues were highlighted in a report by the World Bank’s own independent Inspection Panel in 2015. Rather than addressing the grave concerns raised about the program, the Bank, instead, chose to launch an almost identical initiative under a new name.

“The World Bank has turned a blind eye to the findings of the Inspection Panel and well-being of indigenous communities in Ethiopia by conveniently re-launching PBS under a new name,” said Anuradha Mittal, Executive Director of the Oakland Institute. “This incredibly irresponsible behaviour of the Bank shows that it would rather uphold the status quo than protect vulnerable communities.”