Implementing the External Review Requires IFC to Provide Remedy to Assam Tea Workers

Accountability Counsel, together with our case partners, PAJHRA, PAD and Nazdeek, made a submission to the World Bank Board of Directors following the External Review of the IFC/MIGA accountability system urging IFC to implement a recommendation without delay and take responsibility to provide remedy to communities living and working in abysmal conditions on plantations the IFC partly owns in Assam, India.The External Review Team recommended that where “there is a demonstrable IFC/MIGA contribution to harm through non-compliance with E&S standards and procedures, and no client resource available for remedy... IFC and MIGA should accept responsibility to act on their own account to provide remedy.”As this recommendation is directly applicable to the Assam case, we are urging the Board to ensure IFC implements this recommendation without delay. With the COVID-19 pandemic accelerating in India, the need for remedy is now even more urgent.