In the News

There are about 5 billion people globally whose justice needs are unmet, including those who cannot obtain justice for everyday problems, those who are excluded from opportunities the law provides, and those who live in extreme conditions of injustice. This article summarizes key takeaways from MCLD’s recent discussion on access to justice, featuring AC’s Stephanie Amoako.

The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank Group (www.AfDB.org) have approved a new policy framework for the Independent Recourse Mechanism (IRM) aimed at strengthening accountability and providing more effective recourse to people affected by Bank-financed operations.

While civil society has welcomed the creation of a dispute resolution mechanism, it has voiced concerns that the Accountability Mechanism’s structure may undermine the Inspection Panel’s independence, and lamented the lack of a mechanism for provision of remedy to affected communities.

BIC, Accountability Counsel, and several other partners provided the IDB with recommendations on how to effectively implement the Office of Evaluations and Oversight’s (OVE) Evaluation of the Independent Consultation and Investigation Mechanism (MICI). The IDB must strengthen MICI’s independence, capacity, and corrective action practices to enhance the mechanism’s legitimacy and ability to provide remedy to project-affected communities.

During the first phase, in 2014, authorities constructed a channel diversion which Accountability Counsel — an international civil society organization that advocates for communities harmed by projects like this — said ran through the land of many local residents in Kawaala, as well as cut others off from easy access to schools and basic services.

The community members in Kawaala Zone II in Kampala, Uganda have filed a complaint to the World Bank’s Inspection Panel following attempts to evict them from their homes and farmland without adequate compensation. The eviction is aimed at paving way for the Lubigi drainage channel expansion.

On 1 July, the board of directors of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the World Bank’s private sector lending arm, and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), the World Bank’s political risk insurance arm, announced that it had finalised the development of a new policy for the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO), the independent accountability mechanism of IFC and MIGA.

Community members in Kawaala Zone II in Kampala, Uganda have filed a complaint to the World Bank’s Inspection Panel following attempts to evict them from their homes and farmland without adequate compensation.The eviction is intended to make way for the expansion of the Lubigi drainage channel, a project funded by the World Bank.

The International Finance Corporation’s new accountability policy came into effect Thursday, the culmination of a yearslong process that included a landmark case the institution lost before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Indigenous rights are at a critical crossroads after communities in Nepal have succeeded in holding the European Union’s investment bank accountable for its role in forcibly constructing a hydropower project on Indigenous land.

In a win for local Indigenous groups, the European Investment Bank (EIB) vowed to address gaps in the implementation of a hydropower project in central Nepal.

Stephanie Amoako is a senior policy associate with the Accountability Counsel, which advocates for people harmed by the kinds of projects supported by OPIC and the DFC. “The DFC should welcome any opportunity to increase transparency and accountability to the public,” Amoako said in a phone call, “particularly those most affected by the projects.”

J.P. Morgan recently released its first annual report on its year-old development finance institution. Accountability Counsel’s policy director, Margaux Day, discusses the need for J.P. Morgan’s development finance institution to develop an accountability mechanism to ensure it can effectively manage unintended risks and impacts.

In its report released last month, the European Investment Bank’s Complaints Mechanism found a series of problems, including environmental assessment shortcomings, no stakeholder engagement plan, poor outreach to local Indigenous people, and no evidence of that community’s endorsement for the project.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) has pledged to address gaps in the implementation of a power project in Nepal, handing a rare victory to Indigenous groups and local communities who had raised concerns about being uprooted from their land.

The industry needs to do a better job being accountable to communities directly impacted by projects, as individuals living near and working at investment sites bear the most risk if an investment has unintended environmental and social consequences, said Margaux Day, Policy Director at Accountability Counsel.

When local communities complain about projects, their adversaries are powerful, and complaint structures can be incredibly opaque and burdensome.

Based on over a decade of working with communities around the world, Accountability Counsel has seen various pitfalls of not adhering to community-led accountability and developed recommendations for how to improve.  

Margaux Day of Accountability Counsel emphasized that Janine Ferretti, the new vice president of the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman, will have to put her experience working on environmental and social safeguard issues at the Inter-American Development Bank to use as she endeavours to fulfil the terms of reference of the post during these challenging times.

The International Finance Corporation’s Operating Principles for Impact Management take a step to protect against impact-washing by requiring disclosures and verification. Genuine accountability requires more.