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Listen to the Cornell Policy Review podcast interviewing Accountability Counsel’s founder and director, Natalie Bridgeman Fields. She talks about Accountability Counsel’s founding, mission, our approach to policy work and where we are going as an organization. Thank you to Nida Mahmud, Editor-in-Chief of the Cornell Policy Review, for her thoughtful interview.

Lisa Trainer Fields brings over 20 years of experience as a senior human resource leader to her role as an Advisor at Accountability Counsel. We are fortunate to benefit from Lisa’s passion and energy for inspiring change in two major ways. First, this October, with Lisa’s support, our Executive Director Natalie will join Lisa in a challenge to climb the equivalent elevation of Mt. Everest by summiting a mountain in Vermont 17 times. For each of their climbs, Lisa and Natalie will honor one of the 17 audacious people who inspire Accountability Counsel’s work.

After much anticipation, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) recently released Strategy 2030, its long-term corporate strategy to respond effectively to Asia’s changing needs. As the ADB looks to the future of development finance in Asia, it must keep community engagement, including access to effective remedy, at the forefront.

In June 2018, villagers from the Vinnytsia region of Ukraine filed complaints to the independent accountability offices of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) about harmful impacts from an industrial chicken farm run by Myronivsky Hliboproduct (MHP). Community members have asked the accountability offices to facilitate a Dispute Resolution process to allow them to negotiate solutions directly with MHP. When both parties come to the table ready to participate in a meaningful way, a dispute resolution can serve as a valuable opportunity for companies, as well as the communities impacted by its operations. Here are five reasons why MHP stands to benefit from a dispute resolution with local community members.

On August 9, 2018, International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous communities in Lamjung district, Nepal are demanding that the 220 kV Marsyangdi Corridor transmission line project respect their rights and seek their Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC). The communities, through the FPIC & Rights Forum, and supporting organizations, have sent a letter to the European Investment Bank (EIB), which is funding the project.

Accountability Counsel is pleased to submit a joint amicus brief before the U.S. Supreme Court in support of the Indian fishing communities and farmers who are challenging the International Finance Corporation (IFC)’s claim to absolute immunity in Jam v. IFC. We are submitting the amicus brief together with Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), Center for Constitutional Rights, the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO), Global Witness, Inclusive Development International (IDI), International Accountability Project (IAP), Dr. Erica Gould, and Jennifer Green.

Ukrainian news outlet Bihus.info recently aired an episode of “Our Money with Denis Biggus” featuring complaints filed by local community members about the operations of Myronivsky Hliboproduct’s (MHP) Vinnytsia Poultry Farm. Accountability Counsel, together with the CEE Bankwatch Network and Ecoaction, supported these community complaints.

In anticipation of the upcoming G20 meetings in Argentina, Accountability Counsel has been collaborating with civil society partners as part of the C20 coalition around the impacts of investment and infrastructure on human rights. The C20 Investment and Infrastructure working group has released a statement calling on G20 countries to approach infrastructure development finance in a manner that respects the voices and human rights of the communities affected by these projects. While recognizing that building sound infrastructure remains vital to economic development, the statement presses the G20 to protect the human rights of local communities, and ensure that funding flows do not contribute to climate change.

Today, the International Finance Corporation’s (IFC) accountability office, the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO), notified community members in the central Ukraine region of Vinnytsia that their complaint about the ‘largest poultry farm in Europe’ is eligible. Three communities affected by the massive poultry operation recently filed complaints to the World Bank’s IFC and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), criticizing the lack of transparency and surrounding environmental and health risks posed by the project. The CAO will now begin its assessment process, during which it will work with complainants and other stakeholders to determine how the complaint will proceed.

Today, three communities in the central Ukraine region of Vinnytsia filed complaints to the World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) criticizing the lack of transparency and surrounding environmental and health risks posed by the ‘largest poultry farm in Europe’. Together with CEE Bankwatch and Kyiv-based Ecoaction, Accountability Counsel is supporting these communities throughout the complaint process.

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear Jam v. IFC, which will consider whether the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) and other similar international organizations are immune from lawsuits in U.S. courts. The blanket immunity that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit affirmed last year invites impunity for international organization conduct, even in egregious cases of human rights and environmental abuses.

Today, two local groups from Assam, India sent a letter to the World Bank Group’s independent complaint office, the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO), highlighting that the Bank’s neglect over the last nine years has contributed to deaths and injuries on tea plantations in the North-East of the country. Exactly nine years ago, on April 27, 2009, the World Bank invested in Amalgamated Plantations Private Limited (APPL), one of India’s largest tea producers. APPL is majority owned by the Tata Group and has 25 tea plantations in Assam and West Bengal.

Our board chair, Kathleen Kelly Janus, recently published a book titled, “Social Startup Success,” on how successful, change-minded entrepreneurs scale and sustain their ideas in order to fill market and social gaps and change the world. We have been fortunate to have Kathleen as a part of our leadership from the beginning. She’s sharing many of the insights we’ve benefitted from in her new book.

Today, representatives of the communities of Fontibón in Bogotá, Colombia wrote an open letter to the mayor of San Luis de Talpa in El Salvador where an airport expansion project is underway. The residents of Fontibón live adjacent to the El Dorado International Airport in Bogotá, which was expanded through investment by the Inter-American Development Bank.

San Francisco – Accountability Counsel, a legal organization that advocates for people harmed by internationally financed projects, today announced that Paru Yusuf, a strategist and advisor on education, youth development, economic empowerment and innovative social venture models, will join the organization’s board of directors.

We’re excited to share our annual report with important milestones – made possible by our incredible supporters. This year we courageously advocated for dignity and justice for our thousands of clients around the world.

Accountability Counsel advocated for improved accountability for corporations at the 2017 United Nations in Geneva during the annual UN Forum on Business and Human Rights in late November. In line with this year’s theme “Realizing Access to Effective Remedy,” our team participated in panels and discussions to demonstrate the obstacles communities face as they seek justice and tangible remedy for abuse they have suffered at the hands of corporations and their international financiers.

On November 28, Greenpeace, BankTrack and other civil society organizations that supported the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe during their protest of the Dakota Access Pipeline, filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit brought against them by pipeline builder Energy Transfer Partners. The court should dismiss this case, especially in light of recent reports that Energy Transfer hired an outside firm to build the case against the groups standing with the tribe.

As corporate accountability organizations, one of our most important goals is to ensure that the offices that facilitate access to remedy for those harmed by corporations continue to grow and develop.

As advocates for people who seek justice through independent accountability mechanisms, Accountability Counsel is pleased to see the World Bank Inspection Panel has announced that Imrana Jalal will fill the opening on the panel left by Dr. Zeinab Bashir El Bakri after the completion of her term earlier this year. We welcome…