Blog

In 2018, we shared groundbreaking news that communities we support in Haiti had reached an historic agreement to remedy harm. After three years of implementation, we are sharing an update tracking both the significant gains and the challenges still to be overcome to ensure that the agreement on paper leads to meaningful changes for the families who were harmed.

The Good Policy Paper, launched today, assesses current policy provisions at independent accountability mechanisms, identifying best practices and areas for improvement.

Using the advanced filters, we dig through complaint data to get a sense of what the state of accountability in international finance looks like – from near and far.

On November 24 and 25th, Accountability Counsel joined the African Coalition for Corporate Accountability (ACCA) at their 2021 General Assembly (GA) in Pointe-Noire, Republic of the Congo.

The Internationale Klimaschutzinitiative (IKI), a climate finance instrument of the German Ministry of the Environment, is establishing an independent Complaint Mechanism (CM). Accountability Counsel welcomes the new mechanism and has been pleased to participate in a consultation process on its procedures. Our case experience has demonstrated that even with the…

Two projects of Myrinivskyi Hliboprodukt (MHP), a Ukrainian industrial agribusiness company, financed by the EBRD will be assessed for a compliance review by the bank’s Independent Project Accountability Mechanism (IPAM). Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO) of the IFC is expected to begin a similar process in the coming weeks to assess the need for a full investigation into the IFC’s financing to MHP.

Australia’s ANZ Bank today launched a Grievance Mechanism Framework to evaluate and respond to human rights related complaints associated with its corporate lending customers. This precedent-setting move makes ANZ the first large commercial bank in the world to adopt a human rights policy that gives communities harmed by ANZ-financed projects a…

Accountability Counsel exists to hold international investors accountable for their impact on people and planet. Every day, we demand from those in power transparency, meaningful consultation, decision-making processes that prioritize the wellbeing of those who are most impacted, equitable compensation and benefit-sharing, and effective channels for feedback. Our legitimacy in…

With the World Bank Board’s approval, the Lubigi drainage channel case will be the first to go to the World Bank’s new Dispute Resolution Service, a recently created arm of the Bank’s accountability office that gives requesters and the borrower the opportunity to resolve concerns through a voluntary dialogue process.

Tomorrow, Indigenous and local community members from across Lamjung District in Nepal will meet with representatives from the European Investment Bank (EIB) for a dialogue regarding the EIB-funded Marsyangdi Corridor transmission line project, which is harming their land and livelihoods. The EIB must hear community members’ concerns and respect their demand to suspend the project until the communities’ rights are recognized.

Ahead of the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 26), the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Development, Mr. Saad Alfarargi, released Climate Action and the Right to Development: a Participatory Approach, in which Mr. Alfaragi encourages stakeholders to adopt a more community-oriented approach to climate mitigation and…

Let’s zoom out a moment. Decisions about the rights and resources of local people continue to be made by officials and executives in world capitals, depriving communities of the agency and dignity they deserve. For farmers we have supported around the world, including the farmer pictured below in Liberia, a…

On October 13, 2021, the World Bank Accountability Mechanism issued Interim Operating Procedures for its new dispute resolution function, called the Dispute Resolution Service. The publication of procedures provides greater predictability to communities who avail themselves of the Accountability Mechanism to seek redress for environmental and social harm. A dispute…

Building on the commitments of last year’s inaugural Finance in Common (FiC) Summit and a joint statement by several Latin American, African, and Asian banks focused on agriculture, this year’s FiC Summit will focus on the themes of agriculture, food security, and agribusiness.

By reflecting principles of responsible business conduct and human rights due diligence as outlined by the OECD and the UN, the GRI Standards now include crucial stakeholder engagement and grievance redress disclosures for institutions that seek to contribute to sustainable development.

Last month, representatives from 50 civil society organizations and the independent accountability mechanisms of 19 development finance institutions gathered for a virtual roundtable to discuss how to address the challenges of COVID-19 in the handling of complaints of harm caused by internationally financed projects.

Tanzania is violating pregnant girls’ rights to education – to self-determination, to safety, to a future – with support from the World Bank. A recent Human Rights Watch report confirms what we have heard from partners and girls in Tanzania.

In this article, we look closely at complaints that allege gender-based violence (GBV) and GBV-related harms, and theorize about why we don’t see more GBV concerns in the complaints given the pervasiveness of GBV. This article is part 4 of a series exploring the issues raised in community-driven complaints to Independent Accountability Mechanisms (IAMs).

The African Development Bank (AfDB) recently announced sweeping changes to its accountability office, now known as the Independent Recourse Mechanism (IRM). As a result of stakeholder engagement in the recent review of the IRM, the accountability office will now be more accessible and equitable to African communities seeking redress for negative environmental and human-rights impacts from AfDB-financed projects.

One year ago, in September 2020, the World Bank Board of Directors published two resolutions: one codifying updates to the Inspection Panel’s mandate, and the other establishing the Bank’s new Accountability Mechanism. The communities who have filed complaints to the Bank’s accountability office during the past year are without updated…