OP/BP 4.10 and Indigenous Peoples in HIV and AIDS Projects

• Pages: 207-208

Contenidos

• The Issue.
• Legal and Policy Considerations.
• Practice Example.
• References.

Page 207

The Issue

Indigenous people tend to be disproportionately affected by HIV due to a variety of factors: social marginalization, poverty, gender, traditional intergenerational relations, and isolation from sources of information and services, all can play a role in contributing to the ultimate impact of HIV in the population.

HIV/AIDS projects, either standing alone or as part of national or regional programs to strengthen the health sector, may finance prevention, care, support, and treatment activities in areas where indigenous people are present. In such cases, special care needs to be taken to ensure that these people's dignity, human rights, economies, and cultures are fully respected.

Legal and Policy Considerations

All projects proposed for World Bank financing that affect indigenous peoples must comply with the requirements of Operational Policy/Bank Procedure (OP/BP) 4.10-Indigenous Peoples. In essence, OP/BP 4.10 requires: a screening by the Bank to ascertain whether indigenous peoples are present in, or have a collective attachment to, the project area; a social assessment by the Borrower; a process of free, prior and informed consultation with the affected communities at each stage of the project and ascertainment of broad community support for the project; the preparation of an indigenous peoples plan or planning framework, which must be available for the Bank's review prior to appraisal; and public disclosure of the plan or planning framework. The detailed requirements are set out in the OP/BP and Annexes.

The legal documents for the project must ensure that the indigenous peoples plan or planning framework is in place by the time of loan/credit/grant effectiveness, and must provide for the applicability of the Bank's legal remedies in case of noncompliance.

Practice Example

Loan Agreement (Third AIDS and STD Control Project) between the Federative Republic of Brazil and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development dated November 27, 2003 (Loan No. 4713-BR):

"'Indigenous Peoples Action Plan' means the Borrower's plan for benefiting indigenous peoples under the Project as set forth in the document furnished by MOH to the Bank on June 3, 2003" (Art. I, Section 1.01 (u)).

Page 208

"The Borrower shall, through MOH, enter into an agreement with FUNASA under terms and conditions satisfactory to the Bank...