Schakowsky, García Introduce Legislation to Promote Human Rights Protections at International Financial Institutions
Development cannot be used to justify human rights abuses
WASHINGTON - U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky (IL-09), a Senior Chief Deputy Whip and member of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, and U.S. Representative Jesús “Chuy” García (IL-04) introduced the Chixoy International Financial Institution Reparations Act of 2022. This bill would help create a recourse mechanism for victims of human rights violations associated with projects supported by International Financial Institutions (IFIs). This bill directs U.S. representatives at IFIs to consider human rights and corruption risks before agreeing to support a proposed project.
The bill is named in memory of the Guatemalan Indigenous communities that were tortured, raped, murdered, and forcibly displaced when the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank financed construction of the Chixoy Hydroelectric Dam.
“International Financial Institutions (IFIs) have an obligation to comply with international human rights law, yet we have seen these institutions fund projects like the Chixoy Hydroelectric Dam that have resulted in the murder, torture, rape, and displacement of indigenous people in Guatemala,” said Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky. “The Chixoy International Financial Institution Reparations Act will ensure U.S. representatives at IFIs do not support any activities that contribute to human rights abuses and that impacted communities may seek reparations for the harm IFI loans have caused. We must learn from our mistakes and confront our legacy of oppression. No entity, foreign or domestic, has the right to commit human rights abuses in the name of development.”
“So-called ‘development’ should never come at the price of human rights violations. But despite their obligations under international law, IFIs have been repeatedly implicated, leaving impacted communities with no options for recourse or reparation. I’m introducing this bill as part of a larger discussion we need to have about preventing human rights abuses by development banks and creating independent recourse mechanisms to hold those institutions accountable,” said Congressman Jesús “Chuy” García.
“For more than 40 years my people, Indigenous Mayans living in Guatemala have suffered violations of our human rights, environmental, cultural, social and economic rights,” said Juan de Dios García, Indigenous human rights leader. “The investments of the international financial entities are not all as intended, and the results have been disastrous. Today opens a beacon of hope for us with the introduction of the Chixoy International Financial Institution Reparations Act of 2022. It creates a path for us to find justice.”
###