Blog

Part 1 of a series exploring the issues raised in community-driven complaints to Independent Accountability Mechanisms (IAMs) as captured on the Console, with analysis of how to understand, interpret, and compare the data.

KATHMANDU, 23 April 2021 – Indigenous Peoples and local communities in Nepal are celebrating a hard-fought victory following a landmark investigation published yesterday, which found that the European Investment Bank (EIB) must take urgent steps to uphold their right to Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) in its funding of…

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Development (UNSR), Mr. Saad Alfarargi, is currently preparing his 2021 report to the UN General Assembly and the UN Human Rights Council on the theme of Climate change-related policies and projects from a right to development perspective. Accountability Counsel has contributed to this forthcoming report by submitting a comment letter that highlights the important nexus between climate investment, accountability, and the right to development, and discusses how to ensure that projects aimed at fighting the climate crisis do not negatively impact vulnerable communities.

Why are investment flows in the Middle East and North Africa not being matched with commensurate community complaints? And what does this tell us about communities’ ability to access remedy in these “dark spots”?  

Understanding how policies and operating procedures vary at different IAMs is a critical component of accessing the mechanisms for communities, and of informing advocacy for best practices at IAMs. The IAM Benchmark Report feature allows users to view and compare policies across mechanisms, and provides insights into how particular policies influence complaint outcomes.

At Accountability Counsel, we stand with our allies in community-driven movements for justice. Today, Accountability Counsel joined a statement from our allies at Asian Americans Advancing Justice articulating a vision for a Community-Centered Response to Violence Against Asian American Communities.

The new Stakeholder Capitalism Metrics, a product of a World Economic Forum and International Business Council initiative, are a voluntary set of ESG metrics that companies can use to guide environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reporting and measuring contributions towards the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Earlier this year, more than 60 companies took an important step in the right direction by committing to the Stakeholder Capitalism Metrics, including metrics that integrate the need for direct community feedback and effective grievance mechanisms to ascertain risks and respond to unintended impacts.

In a recent op-ed, Foreign Aid is Having A Reckoning, the Editorial Board of The New York Times highlighted discussions happening around the world, and in Africa in particular, about the need to “decolonize” development and center decision-making in the hands of local communities. From our experience working with communities in Africa and across the globe, we know that accountability to communities impacted by development projects is one crucial component of community-led development.

Understanding the reasons why complaints fail to advance beyond preliminary stages allows visibility into the system of accountability in international finance, and helps us evaluate how IAMs are functioning as sources of redress for communities facing harm.

The Accountability Console has a page dedicated to each of the 1,395 complaints filed to accountability mechanisms. Complaint pages do more than display the data of a specific complaint; they tell the stories of communities facing harm, and their attempts to find remedy. Here is one example.

The African Development Bank (AfDB) is one of the largest development finance investors in Africa, committing $7.1 billion in 2018 alone to fund development projects in Africa. But what happens when these projects negatively impact the very communities that are meant to benefit? Unfortunately, negative impacts are not a hypothetical.…

We are pleased to announce that Vanessa Barboni Hallik has joined Accountability Counsel’s Board of Directors. Vanessa comes to Accountability Counsel with a range of expertise that deeply supports our mission and the communities we serve. 

Complaint stage information is a critical component in helping us understand how accountability mechanisms function in practice. Recent updates to our methodology on complaint stages provide further insights into things like registration criteria, eligibility trends, and outputs for communities — helping inform a community-centered approach to our data.

The Console’s newest feature is a powerful way to do highly targeted research by scanning through nearly 100,000 pages of complaint documents in seconds. Learn more about use cases and example searches.

At Accountability Counsel, we will continue to shine a light on the power structures that operate with impunity, within the US and elsewhere. We will persist in our demand for accountability of these structures. We will maintain our call for transparency so that power cannot wield misinformation as a weapon. We will amplify the voices of communities who have been silenced and ignored.

In late December 2020, when the United States Congress passed its appropriations legislation to fund the government, it issued an accompanying explanatory statement that requires the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to establish an accountability mechanism. This is welcome news for those who want USAID’s projects to be successful…

An independent panel of experts has reviewed some of World Wide Fund for Nature’s conservation projects alleged to have contributed to human rights abuses. A key recommendation from the review is to establish an effective accountability mechanism to strengthen compliance and ensure communities have redress for project harms. WWF should…

Soon Congress might address a long-standing accountability gap in upcoming appropriations legislation. In its draft bill, a Senate appropriations subcommittee took a critical step towards strengthening accountability at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) by requiring the agency to establish an accountability mechanism. We applaud the Senate subcommittee for…

Aujourd’hui, à l’occasion de la Journée internationale des droits de l’homme, Accountability Counsel et la Coalition africaine pour la redevabilité des entreprises (ACCA) lançons notre nouveau rapport intitulé : Redevabilité en Afrique : Effets préjudiciables des flux financiers internationaux et stratégies de soutien à l’accès aux recours par les communautés.

Today, on Human Rights Day, Accountability Counsel and African Coalition for Corporate Accountability launch our new report, Accountability in Africa: Harm from International Financial Flows and Strategies for Supporting Community-Led Access to Remedy.