No Human Rights Control World Bank

The government is concerned about criticism that the World Bank gives insufficient attention to human rights. The Netherlands will ask questions to the World Bank about this issue. Minister Lilianne Ploumen (Foreign Trade and Development) has said that on Tuesday in response to a report by Human Rights Watch (HRW). According to the report, the World Bank checks insufficiently if human rights are violated in the projects that they finance. “The World Bank has comprehensive internal control mechanisms to ensure respect for human rights,” said Ploumen. “However, the HRW report makes clear that these paper mechanisms are not always sufficient in practice.” The World Bank is currently working on a revision of the internal controls. According to Ploumen, the Netherlands join these talks in its role as a shareholder of the bank.