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Friday, March 29, 2024

World Bank responds to article on Armenian displacement

The World Bank issued a response on Monday to an article in Hetq taht said  approximately 440 Armenian citizens have been displaced as a result of projects financed by the World Bank.

The article by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) was published in Hetq on April 17. The article said the Electricity Supply Reliability Project has negatively impacted residents and that approximately 440 individuals in Armenia were physically or economically displaced.

World Bank Regional Director for the South Caucasus Henry Godfrey Rupiny Kerali said the ICIJ report was misleading in its information. The bank rejects many of the claims made in the article, he said.

The World Bank said there are a number of safeguards and policies that are put in place to avoid resettlement whenever it is possible, and if there isn't, the World Bank aims to make accommodations equal to pre-impact conditions.

The ICIJ report was developed with approximately 50 journalists from 21 countries. The report said approximately 3.4 million individuals have been in some way displaced from all projects financed by the World Bank in the past decade.

The World Bank was asked to comment at the time of the Hetq article, but the organization did not receive a response by press time.