Nobel Laureates Ask World Bank to Curb Extractive Industries

By Bob Burton CANBERRA, Australia, February 13, 2004 (ENS) – Five Nobel Peace Laureates, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu, have urged World Bank President James Wolfensohn to endorse recommendations contained in a new review that proposes a dramatic overhaul of bank policies on lending for the oil, gas, and mining industries. War, poverty, climate change, greed, corruption, and ongoing violations of human rights – all of these scourges are all too often linked to the oil and mining industries," wrote Tutu, who was awarded the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize for helping to resolve the problem of apartheid in South Africa, and the four other laureates. Also signing the letter endorsing strict limits on lending to extractive industries are: Sir Joseph Rotblat, 1995 Peace Prize awardee for his work to diminish the threat of nuclear war; Jody Williams, 1997 Peace Prize winner for her leadership of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines; and Betty Williams and Mairead Maguire who jointly received the 1976 Peace Prize as founders of the Northern Ireland Peace Movement. "Your efforts to create a world without poverty need not exacerbate these problems," they wrote. "The Review provides you an extraordinary opportunity to direct the resources of the World […]

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