PLEASE SEND LETTERS TO IFC ON CONSULTATION AND
RESETTLEMENT ISSUES ARISING FROM OIL PIPELINE
>>>Deadline for action: 29 October<<<

Dear friends,

As you know civil society groups in Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkey have been
working with the colleauges in Europe and North America to track the
development of the Baku-Ceyhan oil pipeline. You probably also know that the
Board meeting for deciding whether the International Finance Corporation -
part of the World Bank Group - will provide finance to the project
consortium led by BP will take place on 30 October.

A coalition of organisations has produced a detailed analysis of the
Environmental Impact Assessment documents produced by the consortium for
this review and we are working with them to encourage people to send letters
in the next few days to the head of the IFC Peter Woicke drawing his
attention to the serious findings of this review.

The full review, which examines in detail the specific violations of IFC
consultation, resettlement and other standards is available at:
 http://ifiwatchnet.org/documents/item.shtml?cmd%5B249%5D=x-249-20673

Feel free to adapt the specimen letter text below and attached.
Send to:  pwoicke@ifc.org
Or to fax: 001 202 974 4359

Please also circulate this alert to your lists and contacts.

In solidarity,

Alex Wilks
Bretton Woods Project
__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __
SPECIMEN LETTER TO IFC


Peter Woicke,
Executive Vice President,
International Finance Corporation,
1818 H St. NW,
Washington DC, USA.

Dear Mr. Woicke,
Concerns on Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline I am writing to draw your attention to a review of the Environmental
Impact Assessment for the Turkish section of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil
pipeline project. As you know the IFC Board plans to consider finance for
this project at its meeting on 30 October. Because of the serious findings
of this review, and other studies, I urge you to delay the IFC's decision
until major changes have been made to the project's design and
implementation so that it complies with World Bank policies, host country
law and Turkey's international obligations.

The review finds the project to be in violation or partial violation of
every relevant World Bank safeguard policy, as well as European Commission
Directives, on at least 173 counts. Under the project agreements, such
violations also constitute possible breaches of host country law. The issues
I am particularly concerned about include:
· Consultation - there are breaches of 6 World Bank guidelines on 83
separate counts;
· Compensation payments consistently well below the budgeted average, and
with prices imposed on recipients in violation of Turkish law;
· The use of emergency powers by the Government of Turkey to override the
provisions in the World Bank resettlement policy;
· The legal framework for the project is in potential breach of Turkey's
obligations under international human rights and environmental law.
· The World Bank's Operational Directive 4.20 (Indigenous Peoples), the
Bank's only directive which aims to safeguard minority groups, has not been
applied although the Kurds in particular meet all the criteria for applying
it.
· Project agreements conflict with Turkey's accession agreements with the
European Commission so funding for the project may breach the World Bank's
Memorandum of Understanding with the EC on finance for accession countries.

The above findings echo those in the review conducted recently by the IFC's
own Compliance Advisor/Ombudsman which was very critical of IFC approaches
to consultation and protection of minority groups. It also found cases where
the size of the sponsoring company or "the political importance of the deal"
meant that "due diligence was rushed, corners cut, sponsors hurried, and
effectiveness and impact compromised." The CAO review and the new analysis
of the Turkey EIA require full and serious responses from the IFC as its
credibility is on the line. I believe the case for a delay in any decision
on financing the project is overwhelming. If this step is not taken many
will feel that the IFC is being swayed more by political pressure than the
imperatives of the World Bank Group's purported mandate for development.

Yours sincerely,
__________________

__________________
The Bretton Woods Project:
Critical voices on the World Bank and IMF
Tel: +44 (0)20 7561 7546
E-m:  awilks@brettonwoodsproject.org

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