I 
117TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 9620 
To support reparations for victims of human rights violations associated 
with projects financed by international financial institutions. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
DECEMBER 20, 2022 
Mr. GARCI´A of Illinois (for himself, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. OMAR, Mr. POCAN, 
and Mr. GRIJALVA) introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
the Committee on Financial Services 
A BILL 
To support reparations for victims of human rights violations 
associated with projects financed by international finan-
cial institutions. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Chixoy International 
Financial Institution Reparations Act of 2022’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds the following: 
(1) Beginning in 1976, the World Bank and the 
Inter-American Development Bank financed the con-
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
07:21 Jan 05, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00001
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H9620.IH
H9620
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
struction of the Chixoy Dam in Guatemala while the 
country was in the midst of a civil war. The Armed 
Forces of the military Government of Guatemala 
were broadly and credibly accused of having com-
mitted gross violations of internationally recognized 
human rights during the civil war, which led the 
United States Government to suspend security as-
sistance to the Government of Guatemala. 
(2) The construction of the Chixoy Dam forc-
ibly displaced more than 3,500 members of the 
Maya Achi indigenous community and disrupted the 
livelihoods of thousands more. When residents of the 
Rio Negro community objected to leaving their 
homes, which were to be flooded by the construction 
of the dam, they were massacred, raped, and kid-
napped by paramilitary and military forces. In its 
analysis of the Rio Negro massacres, the United Na-
tions-sponsored Historical Clarification Commission 
concluded that peaceful resistance to administrative 
decisions related to the construction of the hydro-
electric dam were conceived a priori as instigated by 
the guerrillas and were resolved through violent re-
pression. Therefore, the army’s command responsi-
bility and intent to destroy Rio Negro constituted an 
act of genocide against the civilian population. Be-
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
07:21 Jan 05, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H9620.IH
H9620
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
tween 1980 and 1982, an estimated 5,000 Maya 
Achi lost their lives through extrajudicial killings. 
(3) Effective resettlement measures were never 
provided for communities displaced by the Chixoy 
Dam project. After enduring decades of extreme 
poverty stemming from their displacement, in 2010, 
the communities and the Government of Guatemala 
agreed to the Reparations Plan for Damages Suf-
fered by the Communities Affected by the Construc-
tion of the Chixoy Hydroelectric Dam in Guatemala. 
In 2014, the President of Guatemala asked forgive-
ness from the communities for the Government’s 
role in the harm caused by the project and signed 
the reparations agreement into law. The Government 
has not allocated the funds necessary to implement 
reparations. 
(4) Senior management at the World Bank and 
the Inter-American Development Bank knew of the 
atrocities that occurred during the construction of 
the Chixoy Dam and of the lack of resettlement. 
These institutions have assumed no direct responsi-
bility for atrocities resulting from the construction of 
the dam. 
(5) International financial institutions have re-
peatedly financed projects that have contributed to 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
07:21 Jan 05, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H9620.IH
H9620
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
human rights violations, including extrajudicial 
killings, torture, forced labor, forced displacement of 
indigenous peoples, forced labor, arbitrary detention, 
loss of livelihood, and reduced access to food and 
water. For example, from 2007 to 2013, the World 
Bank funded a conservation program implemented 
by the Kenya Forest Service (KFS), which regularly 
engaged in forced evictions of forest communities. 
With financing from the World Bank, KFS burned 
the homes of Sengwer indigenous peoples and vio-
lently displaced them. Many Sengwer remain land-
less and impoverished, struggling to have their 
rights to ancestral lands respected. In 2013, the Ac-
celerating Infrastructure Investment Facility in 
India financed by the Asian Development Bank re-
sulted in gross labor violations of at least 116 work-
ers in the construction of the subproject of Kiratpur- 
Nerchowk Highway. The Asian Development Bank’s 
subcontractor, Infrastructure Leasing and Financial 
Services, still owes the workers back wages and un-
paid benefits. 
(6) International financial institutions, includ-
ing the World Bank and the Inter-American Devel-
opment Bank, have an obligation to comply with 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
07:21 Jan 05, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00004
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H9620.IH
H9620
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
international law, including international human 
rights law, in all of their activities. 
(7) The United States Government has long 
used its voting power to advocate for strengthened 
accountability in international financial institutions. 
(8) The International Financial Institutions Act 
requires that the United States Government use its 
voice and role at the international financial institu-
tions in which it is a shareholder to advance the 
cause of human rights and promote mechanisms to 
strengthen the environmental performance of those 
institutions, including strengthening organizational, 
administrative, and procedural arrangements within 
the institutions so as to ensure the sustainable use 
of natural resources and protect indigenous peoples. 
(9) The International Development and Finance 
Act requires the United States Government not to 
vote in favor of any international financial institu-
tion-financed project that would result or be likely to 
result in a significant effect on the human environ-
ment, unless the assessment or a comprehensive 
summary of the assessment has been made available 
to affected groups and local nongovernmental orga-
nizations. This has led directly to stronger environ-
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
07:21 Jan 05, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00005
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H9620.IH
H9620
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS
mental assessment policies at the international fi-
nancial institutions. 
(10) The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 
2014 (Public Law 113–76), requires the United 
States Government to use its voice and vote at inter-
national financial institutions to ensure that each 
such institution responds to the recommendations of 
its accountability mechanisms, and provides redress 
to individuals and communities that have suffered 
human rights violations. That Act also instructs the 
United States Executive Directors at the World 
Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank to 
report to the Committees on Appropriations on steps 
being taken to support the implementation of the 
2010 Reparations Plan for Damages Suffered by the 
Communities Affected by the Construction of the 
Chixoy Dam Hydroelectric Dam in Guatemala. 
(11) In Jam v. International Finance Corpora-
tion, the Supreme Court ruled that international or-
ganizations are not absolutely immune from lawsuits 
in United States courts and can be sued in connec-
tion to their commercial activity. 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
07:21 Jan 05, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00006
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H9620.IH
H9620
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS