The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will take the heat in Bali from civil society and the vulnerable sectors in the Asia Pacific region for charges of human rights violations in a two-day international opinion tribunal.

NGOs and peoples' organizations across the region led by the Asia Pacific Research Network (APRN), Indonesian NGO Forum on International Development (INFID) and Institute for National and Democratic Studies (INDIES) will hold the Asia Pacific Peoples' Tribunal on ADB from May 2-3, 2009 at the Faculty of Medicine Auditorium in Udayana University, in time for the ADB 42nd Governors' Meeting.

“The peoples' tribunal will be charging ADB and its government cohorts for four decades of violating the political, economic, social and cultural rights of the Asia Pacific peoples in the implementation of its anti-poor projects and policies,” said Don Marut, Executive Director of INFID, one of the organizers of the event.

The tribunal aims to raise the voices of grassroots and marginalized sectors and expose how ADB has played a significant role in worsening poverty through debt entrapment, unsound governance policies and environmental degradation, all of which greatly affect especially the women and the indigenous peoples in the region. To this end, testimonies and evidence from experts and victims from affected communities on the negative impact of ADB policies and projects on the peoples' access to water, livelihood, food and education will be presented.

Atty. Jobert Pahilga of the International Association of Peoples' Lawyers (IAPL), who is leading the prosecution team, clarified that the Peoples' Tribunal is a peoples' court. The proceedings of the tribunal however partakes of the nature of criminal prosecution because the respondent are accused of committing violations of rights and the rights of the people based on the UDHR, ICCPR, and other generally accepted principles of international laws and other instruments. The complainants also demand from them the corresponding indemnification, restitution, compensation, and to stop the further commission of the acts being complained about. The ADB will be given an opportunity to be heard and ample evidence is provided to support the accusations. “We will be notifying ADB of the charges in due time and will invite them to the tribunal as well”, Pahilga added.

The tribunal is part of the Peoples' Week of Action being organized by regional and national organizations which will kick off with a nationally coordinated rally in 30 cities in Indonesian on May 1, with an estimated 7,000 protesters, and followed by the Regional Forum on the Economic and Financial Crisis on May 4 and the Day of Action Against ADB on May 5 in Renon, during the closing of the ADB GM. (end)

For more information, contact:

Ava Danlog (Philippines)
adanlog@ibon.org
telefax: +6329276981
Mobile: +639285051736

Siti Nikmah (Indonesia)
nikmah@infid.org
Phone (62-21) 79196721-22
Fax. (62-21) 7941577

| More...