The bank has also established a 60-strong compliance operation in Washington. This is part of an attempt to counter criticism that the decentralisation of the bank and its greater efforts at satisfying its government clients has meant the bank's own safeguard policies are being ignored. Steen Jorgensen, recently appointed director of the bank's social development department, acknowledged the institution had made mistakes in following its guidelines. We can only help move the debate somewhere else if we are credible in doing what we are supposed to be doing now. He said however that a standard that insisted no individual was resettled involuntarily would probably impede development.
Environmental groups are dubious about the effectiveness of the new compliance operation.
Some are also critical of the outlines of the new resettlement policy, which in its latest draft would no longer insist that people who lost land on being resettled would get land in its place. Heffa Schuking, director of Urgewald, a German environmental group, said the issue was of growing importance as the numbers forced out of their homes by World Bank projects grew. She cited figures showing the numbers affected rising from 450,000 in 1983, to 2.6m now. Bank officials said this reflected increased numbers of bank projects in cities, where sanitation and other projects required the removal of large numbers of people. However, Ms Schuking said she was concerned that the bank's definition of voluntary resettlement might well be too generous, given that countries were increasingly monitoring their own compliance with bank safeguards.