Dana Ullman/The GroundTruth Project
At first, the World Bank required Tanzania to follow the bank’s policy to protect indigenous groups such as the Barabaig and Hadzabe tribes.
But the World Bank’s board has granted an East African agribusiness project called SAGCOT a waiver that exempts it from following the bank’s Indigenous Peoples Policy. That move has sparked fears among human rights advocates that the development lender is setting a precedent that weakens protections for indigenous peoples.
The United States, the World Bank’s largest donor, also warned in a recent Treasury Department statement that the waiver could set an “unfortunate precedent” and called the bank’s justification for granting it “unconvincing.”
The bank maintains that indigenous communities will still be protected under procedures established for the SAGCOT project.
These are images of the Barabaig people and their daily life in Tanzania’s Morogoro region.
Related: Displacement in Tanzania: ‘It is as if we don’t exist’
Dana Ullman/The GroundTruth Project
Dana Ullman/The GroundTruth Project
Dana Ullman/The GroundTruth Project
Dana Ullman/The GroundTruth Project
Dana Ullman/The GroundTruth Project
Dana Ullman/The GroundTruth Project
Dana Ullman/The GroundTruth Project
Dana Ullman/The GroundTruth Project
Dana Ullman/The GroundTruth Project
Read the full story from reporters Sasha Chavkin and Dana Ullman: "World Bank allows Tanzania to sidestep rule protecting indigenous groups."
The GroundTruth Project and the International Women’s Media Foundation supported reporting for this story.
Sign up for The Top of the World, delivered to your inbox every weekday morning.