Dear Ms. Guerrero,

We are surprised that neither you nor anyone from the World Bank attended the Independent Peoples' Tribunal on the World Bank that was recently held in New Delhi.

As you know, we invited representatives from the World Bank and from the Government of India to respond within the format of the Tribunal, setting aside time and opportunities for you to do so. Yet, at the last minute, the World Bank pulled out.

This was indeed a dissappointing move from an institution that to date has never demonstrated accountability to any body outside its own internal structure.

You have stated that you welcome opportunities for dialogue, yet you chose to forego this opportunity where some 600 people had gathered from across India and abroad specifically to address the World Bank's role in India's development. The Tribunal was by far the largest and most diverse gathering dedicated to this topic to date. Yet, despite the convenience of being held in New Delhi, you chose not to participate.

It appears that the World Bank is only interested in "dialogue" where it controls the setting, chooses the participants, and determines the outcome. For precisely those reasons, such "dialogue" is of no use or interest to us.

Rest assured, however, that there will be more opportunities for the Bank to make itself accountable to the people in India and elsewhere. We look forward to seeing the World Bank at future people's gatherings.

Sincerely,
Independent People's Tribunal on the World Bank in India

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To understand the context to which the above is a response , view the World Bank's reply to the Convenorswhich was posted to their site on the final day of the Tribunal.