IFC's Safeguard for Forced Displacement Needs a Makeover

August 2026

The IFC is in the middle of reforming Performance Standard 5, the standard governing how its financed projects handle land acquisition and displacement. Civil society groups say the standard has structural gaps that fail to prevent significant harm even when it is followed to the letter. This piece summarizes the structural problems of PS5 pointed out by civil society and looks at two cases, Tata Mundra and the CBG bauxite mine in Guinea, to illustrate how those structural problems fail to prevent community harm. With reference to these cases, PS5 reform recommendations are made as well.

Research: IFC's Safeguard for Forced Displacement Needs a Makeover

By Sreya Jampana — Aug. 4, 2026

IFC’s Performance Standard 5 is supposed to protect communities from displacement (or fully remediate any harm from displacement), but CAO cases demonstrate how the standard keeps failing communities. Here's what the 2028 reform needs to fix.

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