The EBRD has set new human rights standards: Will they improve the lives of millions?
March 5, 2025
This story explores the changes that the EBRD has made to its revised safeguards, with a particular focus on human rights due diligence. Strengthening this aspect, particularly the EBRD’s weak enforcement of client requirements, has long been a key priority for Bankwatch and has informed the collective advocacy efforts of many other civil society organisations.
Countering shrinking space: How multilateral development banks can empower civil society in the Western Balkans, Caucasus and Central Asia
February 25, 2025
This report examines how multilateral development banks have failed to adequately protect civil society in the Caucasus, Western Balkans, and Central Asia.
EIB Group Complaints Mechanism ineffective in addressing complaints submitted in relation to the Budapest Airport expansion project
January 31, 2025
In this case study, we lay bare inefficiencies of the EIB and EBRD grievance mechanisms using a real-life example – the Budapest Airport Expansion Project – and make recommendations for the next review of the EIB Group Complaints Mechanism Policy.
Joint statement: Urgent call to IFC and EBRD to impose conditionalities on Oyu Tolgoi’s new loan
December 20, 2024
Civil society organisations from across the globe have signed a joint statement opposing a proposed new loan for the Oyu Tolgoi mine in Mongolia.
Holding the EIB and EBRD accountable: Are their grievance mechanisms effective?
November 20, 2024
In this report, we examine the alignment of the EIB and EBRD grievance mechanisms with the effectiveness criteria for the design and assessment of non-judicial complaints mechanisms set out in the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
Cop29 host Azerbaijan set for major fossil gas expansion, report says
October 23, 2024
The new report, produced by Urgewald and CEE Bankwatch, found Azerbaijan was set to increase its gas production by a third in the next decade, with fossil fuel companies forecast to spend $41.4bn (£31.9bn) on the country’s gas fields.
Bosnia and Herzegovina: Motorway-affected residents submit complaint to the UN
June 24, 2024
A group of people whose land and houses are threatened by the EU-funded planned Corridor Vc (1) motorway south of Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina have submitted a complaint to the United Nations Human Rights Council (2).
‘Delivering Impact Together’ … unless things get complicated: EBRD Annual Meeting marked by shrinking civic space
June 6, 2024
The theme of this year’s EBRD Annual Meeting and Business Forum in Yerevan was ‘Delivering Impact Together’. However, discussions were dominated by the pressing issues of shrinking civic space and the exclusion of communities in the EBRD’s countries of operations.
Joint civil society letter to the EBRD President on Georgia’s draft law on Transparency of Foreign Influence
May 27, 2024
More than 30 international and national civil society organisations have joined the call to the President of the EBRD, Odile Renaud-Basso, to condemn the Foreign Agents Law, which is an attack on civil society and independent media and risks jeopardising their activities and the success of business operations in Georgia.
Comments on the draft Environmental and Social Policy with a focus on human rights due diligence
May 27, 2024
The EBRD’s safeguards revisions show some progress, but the Bank needs to strengthen its own environmental and social due diligence, particularly in the area of human rights, to prevent human rights abuses through early risk identification and effective mitigation.
