Report finds development banks fail people harmed by their projects
January 27, 2016
A new report launched today documents the hurdles communities and workers face in obtaining remedy from development banks whose projects cause them harm. The 11 civil society organizations that authored the report, Glass Half Full? The State of Accountability in Development Finance, call on development banks and the governments that run them to strengthen their systems for providing remedy to those harmed by the activities financed by the banks.
Glass Half Full? The state of accountability in development finance
January 27, 2016
Real development respects human rights and is shaped by the people it is designed to benefit. However, development projects financed by development finance institutions in many cases has been associated with the dispossession of land, loss of resources, diminished livelihoods and environmental degradation. Accountability mechanisms in theory aim to ensure that people who have been harmed by these projects receive adequate remedy. As this report shows, however, these accountability mechanisms to a large extent fail to fulfil this function, not least because they operate in a constrained environment constructed by the institutions that administer them.
Financing the post-2015 agenda – the problematic role of development banks
September 24, 2015
The heavy involvement of international financial institutions in the post-2015 development agenda raises serious questions for civil society around the world on whether the SDGs will manage to address the root causes of inequality, poverty and environmental degradation.
Transforming development finance? Europe’s multilateral lenders fail on aid transparency
June 4, 2015
The recently published 2015 Aid Transparency Review concludes that the European Union is off track from meeting its aid transparency commitments. Europe’s two multilateral development banks are indicative of the altogether rather disappointing outcome.
European Parliament intergroup ITCO condemns new transparency policy of the European Investment Bank
March 13, 2015
The European Investment Bank’s slide towards secrecy, manifest in its newly adopted transparency policy, has been lambasted by the intergroup of the European Parliament responsible for transparency and corruption.
European Ombudsman hammers EIB over Bosnian bridge maladministration
December 2, 2014
An unprecedented ruling and serious tough talking emanated from the European Ombudsman at the end of October following an investigation into the EIB’s involvement with a bridge construction project in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Describing the approach taken by the EIB in the case as “wholly unacceptable”, the Ombudsman’s conclusion pulled no punches in asserting that the bank’s “maladministration risks putting into question the European Union’s commitment to strengthening the rule of law in Bosnia and Herzegovina.”
Flood impacts kept secret by hydropower plant constructor in Georgia
October 6, 2014
Georgian Urban Energy (GUE), the company in charge of constructing the Paravani hydropower plant (HPP), has been keeping secret a study on the potential flooding risks associated with the facility, despite requests and promises from the EBRD that such an analysis would be made public.
Corporate interest on way to win over the EU bank’s transparency policy
September 10, 2014
In the draft version of its new transparency policy the European Investment Bank is making access to information on its tens of billion euros lending harder than ever.
Civil society recommendations for the European Investment Bank’s transparency policy
July 1, 2014
As the EIB prepares the review of its 2010 transparency policy, the signatories of this letter convey key positions and concerns regarding the policy and how we believe it needs to be amended.
Comments on Project Complaint Mechanism Draft Rules of Procedure
March 6, 2014
The EBRD’s Project Complaint Mechanism’s Rules of Procedure (PCM) are part of the bank’s good governance policies which are all being revised in the beginning of 2014. In addition to these comments on the PCM here, Bankwatch has prepared comments to the good governance policies (pdf) in general separately.
