美国国会敦促世行坚持环境及社会标准
The US Congress is putting pressure on the World Bank to preserve its social and environmental rules for projects in developing countries amid fears that the emergence of rivals backed by China may force it to weaken standards.
The World Bank is next year expected to wrap up a review of its safeguards, which were introduced in the 1980s in response to criticism of environmental damage and rights violations linked to bank-funded megaprojects.
预计世行明年将完成对其防护机制的重新审议，这些防护措施是在上世纪80年代推出的，目的是回应相关批评，这些批评称，世行资助的大型项目导致了环境损害和侵犯人权行为。But environmentalists fear rising competition from a new Brics bank and China-backed Asian infrastructure fund mean that review will inevitably lead to lower standards.
但环保人士担心，新的金砖银行和中国支持的亚洲基础设施基金带来的更多竞争意味着，世行的重新审议难免带来标准降低。
A spending bill signed into law by US President Barack Obama on Tuesday includes tough requirements for the Treasury department, which oversees relations with the World Bank. In particular it calls for the administration to instruct the US executive director at the bank to vote against any project that is subject to environmental or social standards deemed weaker than those now in place.
美国总统巴拉克•奥巴马(Barack Obama)周二签署为法律的一项支出法案，对美国财政部提出了严格的要求（美国财政部负责控管美国与世行的关系）。具体而言，该法案呼吁奥巴马政府指示美国驻世行执行董事投票反对任何降低现行环境或社会标准的项目。In a letter sent to Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew on Monday and obtained by the Financial Times, three senior Democratic senators said they were concerned that a draft released by the bank in July “may represent a dilution of existing protections”.
英国《金融时报》获得了3位民主党资深参议员周一发给美国财政部长雅各布•卢(Jacob Lew)的信，信中表示，他们担心，世行7月发布的草案“可能代表着对现行防护措施的弱化”。Among the issues cited by the senators was a proposal that would allow projects to be approved and funds to be disbursed before environmental and social concerns such as those over the relocation of people were addressed properly. That, they said, would reduce the bank’s leverage over governments and could see “funds wasted”.
这些参议员提到了一项提案，该提案将允许世行在相关环境和社会问题（比如居民迁移）得到妥善解决之前，先行对项目放行和提供资金。他们说，这可能降低世行对有关国家政府的影响力，可能导致“资金浪费”。“The World Bank has drafted these proposed safeguards to become more nimble and competitive,” Senators Robert Menendez, Barbara Boxer and Edward Markey wrote. “But we believe these safeguards will hurt the World Bank’s efficiency, undermining its ability to compete with other development banks.”
“世行起草这些拟议防护措施的目的，是为了变得更灵活、更有竞争力。”参议员罗伯特•梅南德兹(Robert Menendez)、芭芭拉•博克瑟(Barbara Boxer)和爱德华•马基(Edward Markey)写道，“但我们认为这些措施将损害世行的效率，削弱其与其他开发银行竞争的能力。”The Washington-based World Bank “sets the bar for international development banks by raising standards, not by lowering them”, the senators wrote.
几位参议员写道，总部位于华盛顿的世行“应该通过提高标准（而不是降低标准）来为国际开发银行树立标杆”。A US Treasury spokeswoman said the US considered the World Bank’s existing safeguards “an essential tool” and put “great weight” on the input from Congress.
美国财政部的一名女发言人表示，美国认为世行现有的防护措施是“必不可少的手段”，国会议员的意见值得“高度重视”。The US has been lobbying countries behind closed doors not to join the new Asian Infrastructure Investment Fund launched by China earlier this year. In public, US officials have also repeatedly raised questions about what sort of environmental and labour standards the new fund would operate with and what impact its creation might have on other lenders.
美国一直在秘密游说各国不要加入中国今年早些时候发起的亚洲基础设施投资基金(Asian Infrastructure Investment Fund)。美国官员在公开场合也一直在不断对这支基金将遵循的环保和劳工标准、以及它的成立对其他开发银行的可能影响提出质疑。The World Bank insists the review of its environmental and social safeguards is badly needed to modernise a system that is decades old and unnecessarily bureaucratic and burdensome.
世行坚称，现行环境和社会防护措施体系已实行数十年，并且无必要地官僚和繁琐，急需重新审议，使其跟上时代。“We will have a stronger, more modern set of safeguards at the end of this process, and we are comfortable with the provisions in the [new] US legislation,” Charles Di Leva, the bank’s chief counsel for environmental and international law, told the FT in an emailed statement.
世行环境和国际法首席法律顾问查尔斯•迪莱瓦(Charles Di Leva)通过电邮向英国《金融时报》表示：“这一过程完成后，我们将拥有一套更强健、更现代化的防护措施，我们也能轻松满足美国（新）法中的规定。”But activists still remain sceptical and concerned over the implications of the proposed changes.
但活动人士仍对拟议变化的影响感到怀疑和担忧。“If the World Bank sends a retrograde signal this could lead to an even more rapid race to the bottom than we have already seen,” said Stephanie Fried, executive director of the Ulu Foundation, a campaign group.
活动团体Ulu Foundation的执行主任斯蒂芬妮•弗里德(Stephanie Fried)表示，“如果世行发出一个倒退的信号，可能导致我们目睹的逐底竞赛进一步加快。”
