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Accountability offices can be powerful tools for communities seeking justice in the face of abuse. In a new video produced with New Media Advocacy Project (N-MAP), Accountability Counsel shows the story of the Cerro de Oro case in Oaxaca, Mexico. This groundbreaking case resulted in communities successfully defending their rights…

Hard data can be an important starting point for conversations about what is working and what is not, in any field. In the growing field of accountability offices for international finance projects, field-wide data remains hard to come by. Accountability Counsel aims to help bridge this gap with our ongoing…

Happy Birthday to us! Accountability Counsel’s Board and Staff celebrate 7 years in operation today.  We are grateful for the support of so many people, from student law fellows, to CSO partners, to funders, who have enabled our success as we serve people to defend their human rights and environment around the world.…

For nearly a decade now, local communities, including indigenous peoples, affected by the World Bank-funded Khimti-Dhalkebar Transmission Line (KDTL) have been protesting the KDTL project in Nepal’s Sindhuli district. While construction of the transmission line was suspended in Sindhuli for several years, in the past year, authorities have used violence against local people to resume construction by force.

On 10 August, 2016, the International Network for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ESCR-Net) sent a collective letter to the Government of Nepal to express concern regarding the reported and threatened human rights violations in connection with the World Bank-funded Khimti-Dhalkebar 220 kV Transmission Line Project, in the Sindhuli District,…

Gabriela Acosta lives with her family in one of the areas worst-affected by noise from El Dorado International Airport in Bogotá, Colombia. She suffers grave hearing loss that negatively affects her speech and her academic development. This is her story, told to us by her father: “My name is Julio…

When we talk about airports, we don’t often talk about the harm to those living nearby. The families trying to sleep, to talk to one another, to concentrate on their work or study; those suffering severe physical and psychological stress, including hearing loss, cardiovascular disease, and insomnia; and those simply…

Accountability Counsel along with Lawyers’ Association for Human Rights of Nepalese Indigenous Peoples (LAHURNIP) sent an open letter to World Bank President Kim on behalf of communities in the Sindhuli district of Nepal affected by a World Bank-funded Transmission Line Project. In the past year, the situation in Sindhuli has…

On July 1st, Accountability Counsel and 8 partner organizations submitted a comment letter to the World Bank’s Grievance Redress Service (GRS).  The comment urges the World Bank to ensure that the GRS is predictable, transparent, and accessible. In particular, our comments on the GRS Draft Operating Procedures request that the…

Last week, Lani Inverarity represented Accountability Counsel at el Taller Mecanismos de Rendición de Cuentas y Sociedad Civil (Workshop of Accountability Mechanisms and Civil Society) in México City.  The workshop was co-hosted by civil society organizations FUNDAR, el Centro de Colaboración Cívica, and el Grupo Regional sobre Financiamento e Infraestructura,…

Accountability Counsel joins civil society organizations concerned about labor rights issues on tea plantations in Assam in signing an open letter to coincide with TEAM UP 2016, a conference on tea and sustainability taking place in London on June 14, 2016. The letter is targeted at brands and retailers purchasing Assam tea and expresses…

  Accountability Counsel welcomes our 2016 Law & Policy Fellows and Intern class who will be working with us this summer on our cases and policy initiatives around the world. This experienced group comes to us having previously worked in Mongolia, Guatemala, Mexico and Ghana.

Accountability Counsel is pleased to share a Code of Ethics that memorializes an approach our organization has long used toward our work in communities. We worked with a number of our civil society colleagues through the International Advocates Working Group to adapt the language in the Code with permission from the Community…

Accountability Counsel joins over 300 organizations from around the world in signing an open letter to World Bank’s President Dr. Jim Yong Kim, in response to a statement he made during an event at the Union Theological Seminary in New York. In answering a question about the impacts of large dam projects as illustrated…

Accountability Counsel team members Komala Ramachandra and Anirudha Nagar just returned from the Sindhuli District in Nepal, where they traveled to investigate the recent violence that erupted April 10th, 2016 as communities peacefully protested a World Bank-funded transmission line project.

Accountability Counsel submitted a Letter to President Obama today urging reform of the US OECD National Contact Point.  Accountability Counsel reiterated and updated recommendations we made to the US Government over a year ago as part of the National Action Plan process. We expect the final US National Action Plan on Responsible Business Conduct to be released soon and hope our recommendations are reflected in the plan.  

Accountability Counsel is pleased to announce that Siddharth Akali will be joining our team as a consultant, collaborating with us on our work in South Asia.

Last week, the government of Nepal indicated that they wanted to restart construction on the World Bank-financed Khimti-Dhalkebar high-voltage transmission line project that had been halted as a result of community complaints. This led to protests by affected communities on April 10, 2016, when about 160 people took part in a peaceful sit-in outside government offices.

Last week, three Accountability Counsel team members traveled to Colombia to support our local partners, community-based organization Comunidades Unidas, during an investigation into their case.

In a Bretton Woods Project blog post out this week, Powerless: a call for World Bank community engagement in Nepal, Accountability Counsel’s South Asia Director, Komala Ramachandra, and our Nepali partner at LAHURNIP, Shankar Limbu, argue that the “World Bank has a unique opportunity to remedy its part in numerous safeguard breaches, to prevent future and potentially grave human rights violations in its projects, and to take a leadership role in building positive and inclusive development outcomes in Nepal.”