The challenges of mainstreaming human rights in the World Bank

The World Bank should mainstream human rights in its operation given the high level of influence it has on many people's lives. In spite of the Bank's tendency to avoid any involvement in human rights issues in the past, it has recently stated that it officially takes human rights into account in its work. This article pinpoints and examines obstacles toward the goal of human rights mainstreaming by the World Bank through the analysis of the Bank's reaction to its critics. Human rights are viewed by the Bank merely as ways and means to development and the Bank's human rights commitments cannot be taken literally. Thus, there is still a gap between its human rights goals and reality.