JAPAN: International charity Oxfam calls on World Bank to boost oversight of forced evictions in the developing world

Record ID: 466668

  • Title: JAPAN: International charity Oxfam calls on World Bank to boost oversight of forced evictions in the developing world
  • Date: 11th October 2012
  • Summary: TOKYO, JAPAN (OCTOBER 10, 2012) (REUTERS) ENTRANCE TO HIBIYA PARK FOUNTAIN IN ENTRANCE TO PARK ACTORS ON MINIATURE DIGGERS MOVING AROUND MAP OF AFRICA ACTOR WITH REPLICA DOLLAR BILLS IN HIS HARD-HAT 'DIGGING' PLASTIC VEGETABLES FROM MAP OF AFRICA MORE OF ACTOR 'DIGGING' VARIOUS OF ACTORS 'DIGGING' AROUND MAP OF AFRICA VARIOUS OF OF OXFAM SPOKESPERSON HANNAH STODDART ON MINIATURE DIGGER (SOUNDBITE) (English) OXFAM SPOKESPERSON, HANNAH STODDART, SAYING: "The World Bank provides advice to many developing country governments that may encourage them to make land investment attractive to foreign investors, when in many cases there are communities living on that land, communities living there, that rely on that land." VARIOUS OF ACTORS MOVING AROUND MAP OF AFRICA ON MINIATURE DIGGERS SIGN READING IN JAPANESE: "PROTECT SOURCES OF FOOD" (SOUNDBITE) (English) OXFAM SPOKESPERSON, HANNAH STODDART, SAYING: "There are cases from Uganda through to Honduras through to Cambodia where communities have been forced from their land and the World Bank has been involved in some way." MORE OF ACTORS MOVING IN MINIATURE DIGGERS ACTOR TAKING PLASTIC BANANA FROM MAP OF AFRICA
  • Embargoed: 26th October 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Japan
  • Country: Japan
  • Topics: International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAACCTTTKW9M4K9AIKQGUIGUGHS
  • Story Text: International charity Oxfam took a dig at the World Bank on Wednesday (October 10), as global financial leaders gather in Tokyo this week for the bank's annual meeting with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
    The media stunt, featuring actors on miniature bulldozers digging up plastic vegetables from a map of Africa, was to highlight what Oxfam calls a rise in forced evictions across the developing world.
    The campaign group said, over the last decade, more than 200 million hectares -- an area about ten times the size of Japan -- has been sold off to foreign investors as food and land prices spike.
    Oxfam said this can lead to forced evictions of resident farmers where the regulatory system is weak.
    "The World Bank provides advice to many developing country governments that may encourage them to make land investment attractive to foreign investors, when in many cases, there are communities living on that land, communities living there, that rely on that land," Oxfam spokesperson Hannah Stoddart said.
    She added that many countries around the world are affected by this issue.
    "There are cases from Uganda through to Honduras through to Cambodia where communities have been forced from their land and the World Bank has been involved in some way," Stoddart added.
    Oxfam said the answer is a freeze of all World Bank Group agricultural projects for a period of six months, and then a public review of those that touch on land acquisition.
    This year's annual meeting of the IMF and World Bank kicks off in Tokyo on Thursday (October 11) and runs until Sunday (October 14).
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