Published August 15, 2024
By Carla García Zendejas, Director of CIEL’s People, Land, and Resources Program, and Lani Furbank, Communications Campaign Specialist.
Hundreds of kilometers from the urban center of Panama, Indigenous Ngäbe and Buglé peoples live in some of the world’s last intact tropical forests, a place they have called home for generations. This ancestral homeland has been a source of sustenance, medicine, and community for Indigenous Peoples, as well as an enormous carbon sink for the world.
But in 2017, the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) approved an advisory services investment to finance a 330-kilometer long electrical transmission line. Known as “Line IV,” this project would pass directly through Indigenous territories. If built, the transmission line would not only threaten the rights, livelihoods, and traditions of Indigenous Peoples, but it would also threaten to open the region to further unwanted development, from new roads to massive mining projects. And these losses could lead communities — especially younger generations — to leave the region.
Defending Indigenous Territory
Because of this risk, Indigenous community leaders set out to defend their home, their way of life and their right to self-determination, and they sought legal support from CIEL. In 2018, CIEL’s People, Land, and Resources Program accompanied the Movement for the Defense of the Territories and Ecosystems of Bocas del Toro (MODETEAB) in filing a complaint at the independent accountability mechanism for the IFC, the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO).
Soon after, the side-effects of the COVID-19 pandemic made communication and access to this remote area even more complex than usual and also slowed down progress in planning for the construction of the pipeline. CIEL was able to take advantage of this time by elevating community concerns to UN treaty bodies and mechanisms, working closely with MODETEAB to improve their digital infrastructure and coordinate logistics so that they could make their case on an international stage.
Arguing that the government of Panama is obligated to respect Indigenous Peoples’ right to free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC), MODETEAB spoke before the United Nations Human Rights Council as part of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, and two UN treaty bodies: the Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (CESCR) and the UN Human Rights Committee (CCPR).
Victories at the UN and the CAO
In 2023, MODETEAB’s testimony resulted in statements from UN bodies warning that Panama is failing to respect Indigenous Peoples’ rights in the context of development projects such as Line IV.
A year before that, in 2022, the CAO found that the IFC violated its own sustainability policy when it backed the project. The CAO’s report made it clear that the community had not been properly consulted about the project, and that the State-owned company must secure the consent of impacted Indigenous communities before construction proceeds.
Now, the IFC is implementing a management action plan (MAP) that is intended to hold the government of Panama accountable for securing consent from Indigenous Peoples. This is the second draft of the MAP, which MODETEAB and CIEL had the opportunity to weigh in on thanks to advocacy by CIEL and partners. In a significant turn of events, as part of the MAP, the President of the World Bank and the IFC’s Regional VP spoke to Panamanian government representatives and the management of State-owned Empresa de Transmision Electrica (ETESA) about the need to carry out the FPIC process.
Looking Ahead
As the government of Panama moves forward to find a project developer, the timeline must include a legitimate FPIC process before breaking ground. And the IFC must remain involved to ensure this happens.
The conditions in Bocas del Toro are currently quite unstable, with acts of intimidation and violence being carried out in the community by government actors without any justification, including seizing land and destroying property. But there is still time to prevent further harm if the IFC enforces its own standards on Indigenous rights and upholds the international principle of FPIC.
Lasting Impact for Accountability in Finance
This landmark case could be a positive example of an independent accountability process serving its purpose by ensuring rights are protected and avoiding the potential for significant harm. It has set the critical precedent that development finance actors cannot shirk their responsibilities to Indigenous Peoples with impunity. And the actions that the IFC committed to take in response — if properly carried out — represent an important step toward ensuring that Indigenous Peoples’ rights are respected.
This case was one of the first to benefit from new policies that recognize the crucial role of project affected communities in co-creating solutions by way of IFC management action plans. We are witnessing shifts in the IFC’s culture precipitated by this and other complex and fragile cases which have challenged preconceptions about complainants. And although this receptivity is not institution-wide, it does demonstrate a noticeable shift within the IFC, and the enduring effects will benefit countless communities to come.
CIEL’s efforts to support communities and hold institutions accountable will continue to be critically important as the playing field changes and financiers look to invest in new and risky industries that pose serious threats to communities around the world. In particular, as global demand for transitional minerals grows, we are focusing our efforts on translating these strategies to ensure safeguards are respected by the mining industry.
About CIEL’s People, Land, and Resources Program
CIEL’s People, Land, and Resources Program seeks to protect and defend the environment and human rights against the adverse impacts of development. This series outlines three impactful cases that demonstrate our work accompanying communities to seek justice through accountability mechanisms at development banks.