Labor Rights
Workers in the formal and informal economy experience harm from international finance and investment in a variety of ways. Communities come to us regarding forced labor, health and safety violations in the workplace that cause illness, disability and even death, and a wide range of other labor rights related abuses.
Our work supports workers and their families to ensure transparency around abuses, raise grievances, bring accountability and find solutions. We have worked with both dispute resolution and compliance review investigation tools to expose labor rights violations that resulted from internationally financed investment.
Relevant Cases Include: Caracol Industrial Park, Haiti | Mining in the South Gobi, Mongolia | Oro Province Palm Oil, PNG | Biomass Project in Buchanan, Liberia | Tea Plantations in Assam, India | Oil in the Amazon, Peru | Agribusiness in Ukraine
Select Media
Haiti: Caracol Industrial Park
- 14 January 2020 – Haiti farmers eager to receive compensation after ‘groundbreaking’ land deal By Jacob Kushner, Thomson Reuters Foundation
- 9 January 2020 – When HOPE is POWER: Haitian Farmers Defend Land Rights in Historic Dialogue Process By Lani Inverarity, Accountability Counsel
- 29 March 2019 – AAAS connects human rights groups with science experts By Andrea Korte, Science Magazine
- 29 January 2019 – Displaced farmers’ coalition reclaims their road to sustainable livelihoods 9 years after Haiti’s devastating earthquake By Janine Mendes-Franco, Global Voices
- 14 January 2019 – Haiti Farmers Demanded Justice After Losing Their Land – Their Victory Shows What Empowering Workers Can Achieve By Lani Inverarity, Accountability Counsel, in Business & Human Rights Resource Centre
Mongolia: South Gobi Mining
- 8 April 2019 – ‘An example to all’: the Mongolian herders who took on a corporate behemoth – and won By Rod Austin, The Guardian
- 9 August 2017 – How a group of Mongolian herders took on a mining giant – and won By Sophie Edwards, Devex
- 13 February 2019 – A long road to remedy
- 26 June 2017 – Mongolian herders ink historic agreement with Oyu Tolgoi mine, government By Accountability Counsel, in MINING.com
Liberia: Biomass Project in Buchanan
- 26 March 2019 – What happens when a DFI project goes wrong? By Teresa Welsh, Devex
- 17 July 2018 – It Takes Consultation to Help a Village By Rachel Cernansky, New York Times
- 3 March 2017 – AC and Partners Successfully Press OPIC to Strengthen Its Environmental and Social Policy Statement
- 8 December 2016 – New FOIA Release Shows U.S. Agency Ignored Warnings While Investing Millions in Failed Project in Liberia By Kindra Mohr & Lani Inverarity, Accountability Counsel, in HuffPost
India: Assam Tea Plantations
- 22 October 2019 – IFC fails to ensure proper work protection for tea workers in India By Amruta Byatnal, Devex
- 30 January 2019 – Shifting Risk from the Poor to the Powerful Through Accountability: 2019 World Bank Group Annual Meetings Read Out
- 28 January 2019 – Press Release: World Bank and Tata Group Must Take Urgent Action to Address Long-Standing Health and Safety Concerns on Their Tea Plantations in India
- 11 December 2018 – UK companies can help break the cycle of poverty wages on Assam’s tea plantations By Anirudha Nagar, Accountability Counsel, in CORE Coalition
Peru: Oil in the Amazon
- 15 April 2015 – Gold Rush: How the World Bank is Financing Environmental Destruction By Ben Hallman and Roxana Olivera, HuffPost & International Consortium of Investigative Journalists
Ukraine: Agribusiness
- 15 November 2018 – Will the Long-Awaited Bypass Road Pave the Way to Reconciliation?
- 26 July 2018 – Ukrainian agribusiness giant MHP responds to media coverage of community complaints
- 23 June 2018 – Living next door to 17 million chickens: ‘We want a normal life’ By Oksana Grytsenko, The Guardian
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A tea worker sprays pesticides without protective gear on an APPL plantation in Assam -
Injured worker in Liberia with a photo of his injuries -
Haitian farmer Elie Josué holds a ledger of the seasonal workers he employed on his plot (Photo credit: ActionAid/Marilia Leti) -
South Gobi herders' traditional culture and livelihoods are affected by Rio Tinto’s Oyu Tolgoi (OT) Mine, one of the world’s largest gold and copper mines -
Indigenous villagers in Peru cleaning up oil spills from Maple Energy with no protection -
Smallholder family standing in front of their house in Papua New Guinea (Photo credit: CELCOR) -
Agribusiness in central Ukraine poses threats to the environment and climate