The international financial institutions and human rights: Law and practice
The broader issue dealt with in the paper is to what extent multi-party development efforts are accountable to their intended beneficiaries. One mechanism for ensuring accountability is human rights. Traditionally, only States carried human rights obligations. International law has evolved, however, and now recognises that intergovernmental organisations, including the international financial institutions, are also bound by human rights law. The World Bank has responded to some extent to this shift by creating the Inspection Panel. Beneficiaries can use the Inspection Panel to query compliance by the Bank with its own operational policies, some of which reflect human rights concerns.