The weight of gold
January 16, 2019
The new gold mine in Krumovgrad boasts environmental performance and social responsibility, yet there are black spots along the path of the Bulgarian gold around the globe.
New reports add details to investigation of Armenia gold mine
January 8, 2019
If you’re looking for a revolution, sign up for notifications from your embassy. The messages pinging on smartphone screens that night in October began not long after stepping into the evening streets around the Yerevan Cascade, warning of impending demonstrations outside the Armenian parliament. To be sure, the flashing blue and red sirens and thousands of people flooding past were impossible to ignore as well, so the consulates’ SMSs came as little surprise and instead provided more than anything context to the oncoming commotion.
Social impacts of the Amulsar mine in Armenia
January 8, 2019
The Amulsar mine presents a number of considerable health and social risks to local communities, the tourism potential of the nearby Jermuk spa resort and the surrounding villages’ orchards, pastures and water supplies. The company Lydian Armenia prepa
Call for the EBRD to condemn retaliation against civil society
December 21, 2018
The space for civil society is rapidly shrinking across the world. This is especially true in the countries of EBRD operations, where crackdowns on freedom of expression, association, and assembly threaten the very existence of independent civil societ
Belgrade incinerator plans raise burning questions
December 19, 2018
The planned Belgrade waste incinerator in Serbia, being considered for financing by the EBRD, EIB and IFC, is incompatible with increasing waste prevention and recycling rates and endangers the already precarious livelihoods of the 12,000 people who currently live from waste-picking in the city. The recently published environmental and social impact assessment for the project fails to resolve either of these issues, as well as numerous others.
Belgrade Solid Waste PPP ESIA
December 18, 2018
Comments and questions in English and Serbian submitted during the public consultation on the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment.
As human rights declaration turns 70, development banks have a ways to go to respect and protect rights defenders
December 10, 2018
Today 10 December marks the seventieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. To coincide with this milestone, Bankwatch together with more than 200 organisations globally has called on international financiers [1] to ensure that these institutions support the realisation of human rights, avoid causing or contributing to rights abuses, promote an enabling environment for public participation, and safeguard rights defenders.
Submission to the EBRD strategy for Turkmenistan
December 7, 2018
Developments in Turkmenistan do not demonstrate commitments of the authorities to apply the political principles of the Article 1 of the Agreement Establishing the Bank. Intergovernmental organisations and CSO sources describe situation in Turkmenistan
Comments on the draft EBRD Agribusiness Sector Strategy
September 12, 2018
These comments focus on the sustainability of EBRD investments, the need for better governance in the sector (both corporate and institutional), on issues that the draft Strategy is missing and needs to include or define better. While the draft inclu
Comments on the EBRD’s draft Country Strategy for Uzbekistan
August 22, 2018
We call on the EBRD to outline in the Uzbekistan Country Strategy a new strategic approach or a comprehensive plan for supporting Uzbekistan’s ambitious reform path in the areas of Good governance and protection of rights and freedoms of citizens. The
