Reflections on the Launch of the Inspection Panel and People-Centered Accountability
Abstract
When the World Bank established the Inspection Panel in 1993, it established an important precedent in international law. It became the first international organization (IO) to enable individuals to complain about the organization’s impacts on their lives without going through their governments. The implications of creating a people-centered mechanism that could trigger compliance investigations reverberated well beyond the World Bank. Over thirty development and finance institutions have since adopted independent accountability mechanisms that are accessible to affected people.These people-centered mechanisms have challenged basic assumptions about how the public can engage and participate in the traditionally state-centered international order. This essay revisits the Panel origin story from the perspective of this people-centered norm.