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AIPNEE supports the Bunong People of Cambodia: Oppose the Lower Sesan 2 Hydropower Dam!
Kbal Romeas is now in the verge of being submerged with the dam’s operation set to begin in 25 Sept. 2017.
IPMSDL Solidarity Statement to the Higaonon Peoples of the Philippines
The Higaonon people’s plight against militarization of their community.
Land Rights Now!
Our GOAL is to work hand in hand with all indigenous brothers and sisters across the globe, in collaboration with other sectors, groups and advocates to secure the collective land rights of more than 370 million indigenous peoples around the world.
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AIPNEE supports the Bunong People of Cambodia: Oppose the Lower Sesan 2 Hydropower Dam!
Kbal Romeas is now in the verge of being submerged with the dam’s operation set to begin in 25 Sept. 2017.
IPMSDL Solidarity Statement to the Higaonon Peoples of the Philippines
The Higaonon people’s plight against militarization of their community.
Land Rights Now!
Our GOAL is to work hand in hand with all indigenous brothers and sisters across the globe, in collaboration with other sectors, groups and advocates to secure the collective land rights of more than 370 million indigenous peoples around the world.
Debunk lies, amplify facts.
OPINION
AIPNEE supports the Bunong People of Cambodia: Oppose the Lower Sesan 2 Hydropower Dam!
Kbal Romeas is now in the verge of being submerged with the dam’s operation set to begin in 25 Sept. 2017.
IPMSDL Solidarity Statement to the Higaonon Peoples of the Philippines
The Higaonon people’s plight against militarization of their community.
Land Rights Now!
Our GOAL is to work hand in hand with all indigenous brothers and sisters across the globe, in collaboration with other sectors, groups and advocates to secure the collective land rights of more than 370 million indigenous peoples around the world.
INDIA: Immediately release Indigenous rights defender Pranab Doley and withdraw all fabricated charges against him
Asia Indigenous Peoples Network on Extractive Industries and Energy (AIPNEE) condemns, in the strongest terms, the unlawful and unjust arrest of Indigenous rights defender Pranab Doley on 12 July 2026 in the northeastern state of Assam in India. We call on the concerned state and central authorities of India to immediately release him and drop all fabricated charges against him.
According to publicly available reports, Assam Police arrested Pranab Doley, the Convenor of the Greater Kaziranga Land and Human Rights Protection Committee (GKLHRPC), without any warrant. He has been at the forefront of opposition to the proposed five-star hotel of Hyatt Hotels, among other luxury hotels and hospitality projects near Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve, for their adverse human rights and environmental impacts. The proposed Hyatt hotel project has, in particular, resulted in land dispossession, forced evictions and physical violence and intimidation against Indigenous Adivasi families, whose lands have been earmarked for hotel construction without meaningful consultations let alone their Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC). The families have challenged the concerned government authorities against the evictions at Gauhati High Court. The project has also raised concerns about impacts on wildlife and their corridor in the Kaziranga National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Further, Pranab Doley has worked alongside Indigenous and other communities to advocate for the rights of Indigenous Peoples, environmental conservation and sustainable development through various other organizations, including Community Network Against Protected Areas, and the People Ecology Network. His work reflects legitimate exercise of the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, and meaningful participation in decision making. AIPNEE expresses deep concerns that the arrest of such a prominent Indigenous rights defender may have a chilling effect on communities and individuals seeking to peacefully defend their rights.
AIPNEE thus reiterates its call to the authorities in India to:
- Release Pranab Doley without any further delay and conditions and withdraw all fabricated charges against him.
- Ensure that Pranab Doley’s legal rights and due process guarantees are fully respected and any legal proceedings against him are conducted fairly, transparently, and in accordance with India’s constitutional and international human rights obligations.
- Ascertain that any development around Kaziranga National Park respects the rights of the affected Adivasi families and other Indigenous communities as per the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Indigenous and environmental defenders in India and across Asia, like Pranab Doley, continue to face criminalization and other reprisals, including killings, for their legitimate rights activism. We thus urge the UN human rights mechanisms, international community, Indigenous Peoples’ organizations, and supporting civil society and environmental groups to closely monitor developments in this case and to support in calling for protection of Pranab Doley and other Indigenous rights defenders throughout Asia.
Pathivara Cable Car Affected Indigenous Limbu Communities Raise Questions About IFC’s Handling of Its Advisory Services in The Project Despite Closure of Investigation Into Their Complaint
Representatives of Nepal’s Indigenous Yakthung (Limbu) communities affected by the Pathivara cable car project have urged the Board of Directors of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) – the private lending arm of the World Bank Group – to question the IFC’s account of its involvement and handling of its advisory services in the controversial project. They have raised several areas of concern following the closure of investigation into their complaint in relation to the IFC’s advisory services for the project by the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO) – the accountability mechanism of the IFC – on 31 July.
In a letter to the IFC Executive Directors, the complainants, their legal counsel – Lawyers’ Association for Human Rights of Nepalese Indigenous Peoples (LAHURNIP), and their advisors – Asia Indigenous Peoples Network on Extractive Industries and Energy (AIPNEE) and Recourse – have stressed that although the CAO case has been closed and cannot be appealed, serious questions remain about IFC’s role in the project and its handling of information about its involvement.
The letter points to four issues: the IFC’s relationship with Dream Hills, its involvement in the Pathivara cable car, when project-related impacts began, and IFC’s failure to disclose information about its advisory work.
IFC’s involvement with Pathivara cable car
According to the letter, Pathivara was added to the list of cable car projects being considered under IFC’s advisory engagement with Dream Hills, which is wholly owned by the chairman of IME Group – one of the largest Nepali conglomerates – after the Project Services Agreement was signed in October 2022.
The IFC subsequently carried out environmental and social screening and commissioned a technical study specifically for Pathivara between March and September 2023. The IFC spent more than US$150,000 on the advisory engagement. The IFC claims it shared none of these studies with its client – and it is on this basis that the CAO closed the case.
The screening identified risks including security and human rights concerns, as well as gaps related to compensation, livelihood restoration, relocation support and resettlement planning.
Yet when asked in February 2025 whether the IFC’s four cable car projects included Pathivara, IFC just stated that the upstream engagement was not with Pathivara Darshan Mukumlung Cable Car Ltd.
The letter has also challenged the IFC and the CAO statements that Dream Hills was not the project developer. Dream Hills’ own website describes the company as developing several tourism and mobility projects, including the Pathivara Cable Car.
Impacts and lack of disclosure
The complainants have further disputed the claim that project construction only began after IFC’s engagement ended in August 2024. They say project preparation, including tree felling, land clearance and violent repression of Indigenous communities, was already taking place around the period of the IFC’s engagement. They say evidence of human rights abuses, land clearance and forest felling was provided to the CAO.
The CAO found “preliminary indications of IFC non-compliance” with its Access to Information Policy. The policy requires projects to be disclosed within 60 days, but IFC took 670 days to publicly disclose the advisory project, only about a month before its engagement ended.
However, the IFC said the project had not been disclosed earlier because its client had not approved disclosure. The complainants have pointed out that the CAO itself has stated that disclosure is not contingent on client consent.
Questions for the IFC Board
The complainants, their legal counsel and advisors have thus asked IFC Executive Directors to seek answers to four questions from the IFC:
- Why does the IFC claim that Dream Hills was not the project developer?
- Why did the IFC deny that it was involved in the Pathivara cable car project?
- Why did the IFC fail to disclose information in accordance with its own Access to Information Policy?
- Why did the IFC carry out work on Pathivara at the request of its client, but say that none of the work was shared with that client?
The complainants, their legal counsel and advisors will be attending the Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group in Bangkok in October and will continue to urge IFC Board members to raise these questions with the IFC.
Indigenous Torwali communities affected by Madyan Hydropower Project in Pakistan and their supporting groups call on World Bank to release the long-delayed Indigenous Peoples screening report
Darya-e-Swat Bachao Tehreek (Save River Swat Movement) and Indigenous Torwali Peoples Council representing Torwali communities have called on the World Bank to immediately disclose the long-delayed Indigenous Peoples screening report concerning the Torwali people in Pakistan’s Swat Valley affected by Madyan Hydropower Project.
They demanded the Bank to release the report and clarify regarding recognition of the Torwali as an Indigenous People in an open letter sent today to the World Bank’s President, Board of Directors as well as the concerned department and country office, among others. Their supporting organizations – Alternative Law Collective, Asia Indigenous Peoples Network on Extractive Industries and Energy, Verrha Research and Recourse, along with 82 other civil society groups and 29 individuals from 34 countries across the world have endorsed the letter.
The World Bank had undertaken the screening in 2025 in the context of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Hydropower and Renewable Energy Development (KHRE) Project, including the 207 MW Madyan Hydropower Project. More than a year after the Torwali community participated in the process and engaged with Bank-appointed experts, the findings, determination and recommendations of the screening remain undisclosed.
As stated in the letter, the outcome of the screening has direct implications for the recognition of the Torwali as an Indigenous People and for the application of the World Bank’s environmental and social safeguards, including requirements to obtain their Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC). The Torwali community has repeatedly raised concerns regarding its exclusion from meaningful consultation, limited access to project information and the absence of effective mechanisms to address concerns related to hydropower development in the Swat River basin.
The call comes as the World Bank has withdrawn financing for the Madyan Hydropower Project as part of a broader restructuring of the KHRE Project. As stated in the letter, the withdrawal does not resolve the concerns raised by the Torwali or remove the Bank’s responsibility to disclose the outcome of the screening process it commissioned. The World Bank remains engaged in the broader KHRE Program, including through the Gabral-Kalam Hydropower Project, which makes the findings of the screening relevant to its continuing operations and any future hydropower investments in the Swat River basin.
The Torwali community has also raised serious concerns regarding reported threats, surveillance, intimidation and reprisals against community members and advocates seeking recognition of their rights and greater accountability in hydropower development. They have emphasized that Indigenous Peoples and affected communities must be able to engage with development institutions and raise concerns regarding projects affecting their lands, resources and livelihoods without fear of retaliation.
The Torwali community, together with organizations and individuals endorsing the letter have, therefore called on the World Bank to:
- Immediately release the Indigenous Peoples Screening Report concerning the Torwali people, together with any associated findings, determinations and recommendations.
- Clarify the Bank’s determination regarding the recognition of the Torwali as an Indigenous People and explain the implications for the continuing KHRE Project.
- Ensure that no further steps are taken on the Madyan Hydropower Project without FPIC of the Torwali people.
- Clarify publicly the status and implications of the Bank’s withdrawal from Madyan Hydropower Project, including how the Bank’s previous safeguards and due-diligence processes are being addressed following the restructuring.
- Guarantee protection against reprisals, including clear consequences for any intimidation or threats linked to project engagement.
- Ensure that the continuing KHRE Project and related operations do not impact Indigenous communities without full compliance with safeguard frameworks.
- Address the wider implications for future investment in the Swat hydropower corridor by ensuring that the Bank’s findings concerning Indigenous Peoples inform future financing and due diligence.
Download the full open letter here
