International Uproar Over World Bank’s Complicity in Abuses in Tanzania
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February 15, 2024, 1:00 PM PST/ 4:00 PM EST
Media Contact:
Anuradha Mittal, [email protected], +1 510-469-5228
Mathias Rittgerott, [email protected], +1 514-803-9070
Over 72,000 people call on World Bank’s President Ajay Banga to stop the Bank’s funding for the REGROW project in Tanzania.
The project’s objective to improve management of natural resources and tourism assets in Southern Tanzania – including Ruaha National Park (RUNAPA) – has led to widespread human rights abuses against the villagers living near the park.
The REGROW project has been under fire for months. In November 2023, the World Bank Board of Executive Directors approved the Inspection Panel’s (IP) recommendation to investigate the project for the harms caused to the local communities.
Despite the launch of the investigation and repeated calls from impacted villagers to end funding, millions of dollars continue to be funneled into the project, emboldening rangers who are brutally harassing the local communities through violence and livelihood restrictions. Stopping project funding is the only way to end the Bank’s complicity in the ongoing atrocities.
Oakland, CA – The Oakland Institute and Rainforest Rescue today delivered a petition signed by over 72,000 people from around the world to the President of the World Bank, Ajay Banga, calling on him to immediately stop funding the Resilient Natural Resources Management for Tourism and Growth (REGROW) project in Tanzania. The project’s objective is to improve management of natural resources and tourism assets in priority areas of Southern Tanzania – including Ruaha National Park (RUNAPA). Instead, the project has led to widespread human rights abuses against the villagers living near the park in order to expand tourism revenues.
“International outrage stems from direct links between the REGROW project and large-scale evictions and human rights abuses, as the World Bank finances the government’s plans to massively expand RUNAPA,” said Anuradha Mittal, Executive Director of the Oakland Institute.
Paramilitary rangers for Tanzania National Parks Authority (TANAPA) – one of the project’s lead implementing agencies – have been implicated in murder, torture, and rape, alongside illegal cattle seizures that have significantly harmed livelihoods since the project began in 2017. Over 20,000 people live in daily fear of evictions to allow for the expansion of the park. The Oakland Institute’s 2023 report Unaccountable & Complicit exposed how the World Bank was enabling the violent tactics of the Tanzanian government by financing the project.
Despite repeated calls from impacted villagers to freeze project funding since April 2023, millions of dollars have been released by the Bank. Approximately US$100 million has been disbursed out of the total US$150 million, including over US$35 million since June 2023, when the Oakland Institute filed a complaint to the Bank’s Inspection Panel (IP).
The REGROW project has been under fire for months. In November 2023, the World Bank Board of Executive Directors approved the IP recommendation to investigate the project. The investigation focuses on the Bank’s review and due diligence of the capacity and processes of TANAPA and whether risks to communities were identified in project documents and appropriate mitigation measures put in place. In September 2023, the IP’s recommendation report documented accounts of missing persons and abhorrent violence committed by TANAPA rangers. While in Tanzania, the IP members saw the scars on victims and heard first-hand about the lasting trauma that repeated instances of violence have left on the community. While communities in Mbarali District welcome the investigation, recent escalation in abuses necessitates action be taken by the World Bank President.
“The ongoing project financing has emboldened TANAPA to continue to brutally harass the local communities. Villages where horrific abuses by rangers have been reported in the past continue to be targeted despite the investigation. As long as the World Bank finances the project, TANAPA rangers will continue retaliation against the villagers for speaking out,” said Mittal.
On October 28, 2023, twenty-one-year-old Zengo Dotto was gunned down by TANAPA rangers in Mwanawala village, the latest in several murders during the course of the REGROW project. Between January 10 and January 22, 2024, rangers illegally seized over 840 cattle from several villages outside of RUNAPA’s boundaries. Nearly 500 cattle were auctioned off, while the remaining were returned after substantial fines were paid by poor families.
Livelihoods of small farmers are also under attack. Family farmers living outside RUNAPA are being prevented from planting paddy by TANAPA rangers, who have confiscated tractors, power tillers, and fertilizer at the start of the rainy season. This equipment forcibly taken away from several farmers is currently sitting in the Mbarali District Court yard. Large state operated farms in the same area, however, have not been targeted.
The enormous financial strain induced by cattle and farm equipment seizures is devastating for the livelihoods of the villagers – increasing hunger and poverty in the communities – with the intent of forcing them out of the area. As one local shared, “It is getting worse and worse every day. People are suffering here. Nobody can tolerate living like this.”
“As a tax-payer funded body, the World Bank can no longer ignore the over 72,000 people who demand it end its complicity in the ongoing atrocities being carried out in Tanzania,” said Marianne Klute, Executive Director of Rettet den Regenwald / Rainforest Rescue. “The violation of human rights under the pretext of flawed environmental protection is unacceptable. The Bank must immediately listen and stop its funding,” Klute concluded.
The petition remains open until the World Bank stops funding the REGROW project. Add your name today
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