Published August 15, 2024 By Carla García Zendejas, Director of CIEL’s People, Land, and Resources Program, and Lani Furbank, Communications Campaign Specialist. Hundreds of kilometers from the urban center of Panama, Indigenous Ngäbe, Buglé and Campesino peoples live in some of the world’s last intact tropical forests, a place they have called home for generations. … Read More.
Published April 10, 2024 By Aubrey Manahan, Campaigner, and Lani Furbank, Communications Campaign Specialist As the World Bank Group (WBG) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) prepare to convene their 2024 Spring Meetings from April 15 to 20 in Washington, DC, the growing call to decolonize economic and financial institutions as a fundamental part of the … Read More.
Published December 18, 2023 By Aubrey Manahan, Campaigner for CIEL’s People, Land & Resources Program. This month, during the United Nations Climate Summit COP28 in Dubai, Parties finalized the creation of a Loss and Damage Fund aimed at addressing climate-related harms endured by vulnerable communities and countries. While this achievement follows decades of advocacy by … Read More.
Published October 5th, 2023 *Note: The World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund, together with the Moroccan Government, made the decision that this year’s Annual Meetings in Marrakech will continue as planned after the recent earthquake in Morocco. CIEL will continue to monitor the evolving context and support local and regional partners who have … Read More.
The Inter-American Development Bank’s accountability mechanism officially closed its case on the Alto Maipo Hydroelectric Project after a flawed investigation and an ineffective action plan left communities with little to show for their years-long pursuit of accountability. At the end of November, the accountability mechanism of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) officially closed its case … Read More.
When exiting investments, MDBs must address negative impacts of projects on communities What happens when the private sector arms of Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) exit their investments without addressing negative impacts and project-related harms, thus leaving project-affected communities without proper remedial actions? We examine seven IFC and IDB Invest cases to draw specific recommendations for … Read More.
Chile’s last-minute decision not to host this year’s COP undercuts efforts by local communities and Indigenous Peoples to expose climate-related injustices happening in Santiago’s backyard. In response, CIEL is working with Chilean partners to make sure that Chilean voices are still heard and that human rights concerns remain at the center of the climate negotiations. … Read More.
Fracking destroys communities, endangers health, and perpetuates our addiction to fossil fuels. Yet, US tax dollars are still being poured into these destructive projects. Recently, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) voted to exacerbate the climate crisis, approving over $450 million of US taxpayer dollars to finance two large fracking projects in the region of … Read More.
Now that the Supreme Court has ruled the World Bank can be sued, what’s next for the organization? This article originally appeared on TheNation.com. Until recently the World Bank enjoyed absolute immunity in the United States from lawsuits. But a US Supreme Court decision on February 27 opens the door for individuals and communities around … Read More.
The UN Human Rights Council is negotiating a treaty to end corporate impunity for human rights violations. The open-ended intergovernmental working group on “transnational corporations and other business enterprises with respect to human rights” completed its fourth round of negotiations in October, where they discussed the so-called “Zero Draft” of a treaty on transnational corporations, or “TNC Treaty.” … Read More.
Twenty-five years ago today, the answer to the question, “Where do we go if we are harmed by the World Bank?” changed from nowhere to the Inspection Panel. We live in an ever changing and more complicated world, where corporations have investors, managers, shareholders, and oversight from all over the world, and operations are owned … Read More.
As I wrote in a previous post, the Early Warning System (EWS) helps make development work for everyone by offering communities the opportunity to have a say in projects that might impact them. But how does this play out in everyday life? (Or, in other words, what do I do all day besides read bank … Read More.
The Early Warning System (EWS)’s digital platform will be soon be made public, after years of hard work to improve the back-end of the site. But what is the Early Warning System, and why is it needed? When I began my internship at the Center for International Environment Law (CIEL), I couldn’t answer either of … Read More.
When a project funded by the World Bank and other development banks harms local communities, where can they turn to? Unfortunately, there are few ways for affected people to hold the bank responsible for even the most dire human rights and environmental abuses. And in the US, these organizations have absolute legal immunity, meaning that … Read More.
In 2013, Mexico’s president Enrique Peña Nieto Peña Nieto touted the country’s energy reform as a “historic opportunity” to “transform and elevate the quality of life of all Mexicans.” The constitutional changes, which ended decades-long monopolies on oil, gas, and electricity held by two state-owned companies, have both Mexican and foreign private competitors salivating at … Read More.
At a time when a number of States are working to accelerate negotiations of international trade and investment agreements, an open-ended intergovernmental working group (IGWG) is working to draft a legally binding instrument (a transnational corporate accountability treaty) to address the legal imbalance between the rights and obligations of global businesses and those of the … Read More.
Imagine: Sacred graves destroyed, subjected to toxic waste dumps, and shrunken to a small 2.2-acre area of what is now the parking lot of Spenger’s Fish Restaurant. Since the eighteenth century, the Ohlone tribe have been fighting to protect their ancestral burial grounds. Now, a 5,700-year-old Ohlone Shellmound and Village Sacred Site is under threat … Read More.
From Monday, February 26, to Thursday, March 1, the Board of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) will meet for its nineteenth meeting (B.19) in Songdo, South Korea. Among the issues on the agenda are key policies to protect the environment and the rights of indigenous peoples, women, and local communities in GCF-funded projects. CIEL and … Read More.
Despite claims that development projects are designed to benefit communities around the world, they often do the opposite. Projects, especially infrastructure projects, can bring myriad problems — impacting access to or quality of water, forcing communities to resettle, infringing on grazing land, and polluting the air, water, and land, among other devastating consequences. When things go … Read More.
The World Bank will be rolling out its new environmental and social policy in 2018. The objective of this policy is “to help protect people and the environment in the investment projects it finances.” Yet after years of statements, meetings, unending papers, and heated debates, the bank created a system of open-ended compliance, discretionary rules, … Read More.
“Honduras is ready for you,” was the message of Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernandez to international businessmen who gathered recently in Dallas, Texas, to learn about investment opportunities in Honduras. The crown jewel for investors is the opportunity to invest in special Employment and Economic Development Zones, or ZEDEs, in Honduras. These zones create independent … Read More.
When it comes to making corporations take responsibility for the human rights impacts of their global operations, voluntary measures are insufficient. That’s why countries met from October 23-27 to negotiate an international, legally binding instrument on Transnational Corporations (TNCs) and other Business Enterprises with respect to human rights. Representatives from more than 100 states and … Read More.
Economic growth and foreign investment can have a positive impact by bringing jobs, development, and improvements to social welfare. But when businesses are able to act with impunity, they undermine these benefits and can cause serious human rights and environmental violations. For this reason, countries are joining together to creating binding obligations for corporations abroad, … Read More.
The last meeting of the Board of the Green Climate Fund was markedly less transparent and raised yet more barriers to civil society participation. As the Board prepares to meet in Cairo for its 18th Board Meeting (B.18) tomorrow, Board members should reevaluate their actions toward their civil society colleagues and recommit to upholding public participation … Read More.
This month, governments and civil society from Europe and Central Asia will gather in Montenegro to consider the state of environmental democracy across the region. From the assassination of Berta Caceres in Honduras to judicial attacks against environmental NGOs in the US or growing restrictions on the freedoms of NGOs in the EU, recent developments … Read More.
Recently, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) was poised to provide US $200 million to Guatemala to strengthen “competitiveness” and “security” by implementing fiscal and migratory controls at border crossings with Mexico. This project did not immediately stand out among the dozens of projects collected each week by the Early Warning System (EWS) in the region. … Read More.
With an important contractor exiting the project, more cost overruns, and the recent death of an employee, the Alto Maipo hydroelectric project is facing new crippling challenges The Alto Maipo Hydroelectric Project (PHAM) is a hydroelectric mega-project near Santiago, Chile, that has repeatedly come under fire for environmental, social, and financial reasons. In the wake … Read More.
The relationship between people and land is immensely important. A community’s rights, identity, history, and future are all affected by this interconnectedness. Archeological remains and geologic history testify to these changing relationships between people and their environment. Unfortunately, sites are frequently threatened by development projects that can destroy this cultural heritage and environmental record. Development … Read More.
It’s a been a while since we’ve written about the Green Climate Fund (GCF), but given its recent popularity in the media stemming from Trump’s complete mischaracterization of it when declaring his intent to withdraw the US from the Paris Agreement, we wanted to give you a refresher on it. What it does. Contrary to … Read More.
CIEL and the International Accountability Project designed the Early Warning System to inform people and communities about the existence of development projects that have a high likelihood of impacting their rights. This information involves much more than simply accessing crucial data regarding project design, location, scope, etc. In fact, it creates opportunities for communities to participate … Read More.
The Alto Maipo Hydroelectric Project, currently under construction just outside Santiago, Chile, threatens the water supply for over 7 million Chileans, and will have long-term devastating environmental impacts. Concerned citizens call the project “unviable” and are calling for it to be halted. As Marcela Mella met with World Bank representatives in Washington DC in January, her … Read More.
The Alto Maipo Hydroelectric Project, currently under construction just outside Santiago, Chile, threatens the water supply for over 7 million Chileans, and will have long-term devastating environmental impacts. Concerned citizens call the project “unviable” and are calling for it to be halted. From January 23-26, Marcela Mella, spokesperson of the Citizen Coordinating Committee in Defense of … Read More.
By Ariadni Chatziantoniou and Kelsey Alford-Jones In early November 2016, Panama withdrew the Barro Blanco hydroelectric power plant project from the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) – the first time a host country has withdrawn a CDM registration due to human rights concerns. Specifically, the project failed to respect the rights of the indigenous Ngäbe people. … Read More.
By Kelsey Alford-Jones of the Center for International Environmental Law and Preksha Kumar of the International Accountability Project For one hour, once a year, World Bank President Jim Kim meets with representatives of international organizations and civil society groups. In years past, the town-hall style meetings have featured people asking questions, providing testimonies and comments, … Read More.
In Latin America, environmental human rights defenders (EHRDs) are increasingly targeted for raising concerns about the potential impacts of development projects on local communities’ livelihoods and environments. To address the threats faced by EHRDs in Latin America as they defend the right to a healthy environment, CIEL and Article 19 have published a report called … Read More.
The World Bank is one week away from voting on the new Safeguard policy, and the future of community voices in development projects hangs delicately in the balance. Yet, as it stands, the World Bank Safeguards policy may continue to devalue community voices by failing to require that crucial information on development projects be shared … Read More.
In the aftermath of the deaths of more environmental activists last week, it could not be more clear that governments around the world are unable or unwilling to effectively protect environmental defenders. Following the death of Berta Cáceres and intense international pressure for justice and the protection of her compañer@s, the government of Honduras has … Read More.
Amongst growing international pressure on the Honduran government for the murder of Berta Cáceres, another indigenous environmental activist was murdered last Wednesday in Honduras. Like Cáceres, Lesbia Yaneth Urquía was a member of the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH) and had opposed a hydroelectric project – this time in San … Read More.
After three decades using the World Bank’s existing environmental and social safeguard policies, the Bank is in the final stages of overhauling its safeguard policy. Recent drafts of the policy indicate it will shift environmental and social accountability onto borrower countries and away from the Bank itself. Civil society and affected communities around the globe … Read More.
The first accountability mechanisms were created more than twenty years ago to allow people and communities negatively affected by projects funded by development finance institutions (DFIs) to seek recourse for harms related to those projects. While low-risk development projects such as education, health, and law reform can improve lives, international development financing for high-risk projects, … Read More.
One month has passed since the assassination of Berta Cáceres. Over the course of that month, the Honduran Government has engaged in a questionable and clandestine investigation into the tragedy, diverting attention away from those with the most likely motive to kill an advocate for indigenous land rights and who sent her death threats, and … Read More.
Last week, CIEL joined other civil society organizations in one of the final consultations with the World Bank on the draft revisions to its safeguard policies. But perhaps “revision” is too gentle – a better word might be overhaul. The World Bank’s new proposed safeguard policies mark an attempt to move away from a mandatory … Read More.
At the Center for International Environmental Law, we are part of a small community known as watchdogs. While this calls to mind frightening beasts lurking in dark places, we embrace this role. It’s a job that we have been taking seriously for more than 25 years. Today, we are bringing our special brand of legal … Read More.
Your energy and advocacy sparked a global momentum shift over the past year, and we are on the cusp of true, transformative change. On all fronts, you have defended your right to a healthy planet. With your support, you help CIEL… Advance Climate Justice For three years, we’ve highlighted the growing legal and financial risks … Read More.
It all comes down to early access to information – and access to the decision-makers. In January of this year, our Early Warning System (the first global webtool to centralize information on development bank-funded projects that have the highest likelihood of negative social and environmental impacts) flagged a $400 million World Bank project aiming to … Read More.
By Stacey Morales (EWS Intern) and Carla García Zendejas For 76 years, Mexico had maintained the rights to all energy resources, production and infrastructure in the country. Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex), the Mexican state-owned petroleum company, was created in 1938 as a solution to the political, labor and economic tensions between the government and U.S. oil … Read More.
The world of development finance is shifting. At the same time that the ultimate legacy multilateral development bank, the World Bank, undergoes a complete transformation of its Environmental and Social Safeguards Framework, a new behemoth is coming online and is quickly preparing to launch: the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). With 57 founding member countries … Read More.
Every fifteen days in the Celendín province of Peru, hundreds of community members trek through the Andes Mountains to participate in a peaceful march to pristine high altitude lakes. Although the backdrop of their activity could be picturesque vacation location, for this group of vigilant protestors, the site has been marred with bloodshed, persecution, and … Read More.
On September 30, 2015, the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission held a hearing regarding human rights and World Bank lending practices. Three speakers from Ethiopia, Peru, and Kosovo provided case studies about projects funded by the World Bank that infringed upon people’s rights, followed by an impassioned call for change by professor and UN Rapporteur … Read More.
Just days before hundreds of world leaders and human rights defenders will convene in Lima, Peru to attend the Annual Meetings of the World Bank, the world is watching the country as a violent confrontation with police over a copper mining project in the Apurimac region has left at least 4 protestors dead and dozens … Read More.
Reprinted with permission from the Business and Human Rights Resource Center. This summer, we celebrated a big win for the climate. In a lawsuit brought by Urgenda and nearly 900 co-plaintiffs against the Dutch government (Urgenda Foundation et al. v. The Netherlands), the District Court of The Hague found that the government “acted negligently” when … Read More.
The Early Warning System Survey aims to minimize the existing knowledge gap by ensuring that communities have the information they need to understand proposed projects and their impacts early in the development process, to identify the banks and corporations involved in financing these projects, and to learn about advocacy strategies they can incorporate into their … Read More.
We are in the final stretch. As you may recall, CIEL has been working since 2012 to ensure that the revision and update of the World Bank’s policies that safeguard communities and the environment are stronger and better reflect international law. On August 4, 2015, the World Bank kicked off the much-anticipated third and final … Read More.
Corporate accountability for human rights abuses, such as slavery, torture, forced eviction, and child labor, is an area internationally recognized as needing significant improvement. Through its recent initiatives, the UN Office of the High Commission for Human Rights (OHCHR) is attempting to address this issue and increase access to remedies for victims of business-related human … Read More.
There was a lot of expectation around Pope Francis’ encyclical on the environment entitled “Laudato Si’” or “Praise Be to You.” The papal encyclical deals with current environmental issues, with a special focus on climate change. Undoubtedly, such a document is going to have a meaningful impact on the climate debate at both the international … Read More.
We are now entering the third and final phase of the World Bank safeguards review, with a final draft of the safeguards expected to be released for consultation this July. The safeguards review provides an opportunity to strengthen the Bank’s framework to ensure that human rights are respected in Bank-financed projects. Unfortunately, rather than … Read More.
The Early Warning System is a joint initiative by the International Accountability Project and the Center for International Environmental Law. The Early Warning System ensures local communities, and the organizations that support them, have verified information about projects likely to cause human rights abuses and clear strategies for advocacy. Read more about this initiative here. … Read More.
This week the World Bank Spring Meetings kick off in Washington, DC, and we delivered your important messages. Yesterday, we delivered your message – amplified by more than 10,000 supporters from 90 countries – to the Executive Directors of World Bank: It’s time for World Bank President Jim Yong Kim to integrate human rights into … Read More.
The Australian Embassy is about 8 blocks of traffic, restaurants, and business offices northwest of the World Bank’s headquarters in Washington, DC– I know this because yesterday I walked the distance alongside a group of energized human rights activists. “El Salvador says no to a Kangaroo Court!” To us, the connection between the lunchtime rally … Read More.
How lucky was your St. Paddy’s day this year? Likely, it brought more good fortune than you think. In the modern world we live in, full of high-tech information sharing and copious globalized trade, one might assume transparency measures to be a given aspect of international exchange. The fact of the matter is that such … Read More.
Colombia’s thirty-four páramos are unique, high-altitude wetland ecosystems that serve as vital sources of freshwater for nearby inhabitants’ survival. To those who don’t directly rely on a healthy páramo ecosystem for life, however, these highlands have a different draw: precious metals buried deep beneath the surface. Therein lies the problem. In 1994, Greystar Resources Limited, … Read More.
The United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) has decided to begin drafting an international treaty to hold transnational corporations accountable for human rights abuses. On June 26, 2014, the HRC voted in favor of a resolution to establish an intergovernmental working group that would create an instrument for regulating transnational corporations with regard to human … Read More.
A violent eviction occurred only three months after La Puya celebrated its second anniversary of a round-the-clock peaceful protest at the Tambor mine entrance in Guatemala. May 23, 2014: Over 300 anti-riot police approach the Tambor gold mine entrance in San Jose del Golfo, propelling tear gas canisters towards the courageous environmental defenders that make … Read More.
(This post is a continuation of the previous videos posted here.) Continuing the coverage of ongoing review of the World Bank’s environmental and social safeguard policies, CIEL presents the second installation of videos from the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission Hearing on World Bank Lending and Human Rights. Over 18,000 concerned citizens across the globe … Read More.
As the World Bank evaluates its environmental and social safeguards, many civil society organizations from across the globe have criticized existing standards and provided recommendations to ensure human rights are respected in development finance. On April 9th of this year, five human rights advocates testified to this effect at the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission … Read More.
While neither the World Bank nor its Inspection Panel are perfect, the elements that make the Panel successful in enforcing environmental standards in development projects may teach us lessons for creating effective environmental dispute resolution mechanisms in the trade arena as well. The Panel was created through an advocacy effort by members of civil society, and … Read More.
On April 9, 2014, over 18,000 people from all over the world tuned into the live stream of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission hearing on “World Bank Lending and Human Rights.” The hearing focused on how the influential World Bank can improve its development programs while supporting effective human rights protections and maintaining environmental … Read More.
We are pleased to announce that Delphine Djiraïbé will be speaking at the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission Hearing on Wednesday, April 9, 2014 from 2:00pm-4:00pm along with Barney Frank (former member of Congress), Arvind Ganesan (Human Rights Watch), Nadejda Ataeva (Association for Human Rights in Central Asia), and Yoni Rivas (Movement of Unified Campesinos … Read More.
Each Spring, thousands of government finance ministers, economists, civil society representatives, and community members from around the world convene in Washington, DC, for the World Bank and International Monetary Fund Spring Meetings. It is often a hectic week of seminars, press conferences, civil society events, and side-line meetings. This year, the Spring Meetings and civil … Read More.
On December 4th, the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO) – the independent accountability mechanism for the private-sector lending arm of the World Bank Group – announced its decision to audit the International Financial Corporation’s (IFC) investment in Ficohsa, Honduras’ third largest bank. In April 2012, the CAO had triggered an audit of Corporación Dinant in response … Read More.
The World Bank Group has a new Strategy, which outlines how it will tackle its two goals of ending extreme poverty by 2030 and promoting shared prosperity for the bottom 40 percent of the population in developing countries. As part of that Strategy, World Bank Group President Jim Kim highlighted the central role of the … Read More.
Two weeks ago, we celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Inspection Panel of the World Bank. The idea for the Panel—sprung from the imagination of CIEL heroes David Hunter and Dana Clark—was then and remains now revolutionary. It marked the first time local communities possessed an avenue to raise their concerns to the highest levels … Read More.
In June 2013, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) around the world gathered at Vienna for the 20th anniversary of the 1993 World Conference on Human Rights and its Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action. The CSOs held a two-day conference to precede the Vienna+20 Advancing the Protection of Human Rights Conference on June 25th organized by … Read More.
Alyssa Johl (CIEL), Abby Rubinson (Earthjustice) and Weni Bagama (Ngabe activist from Kiad community in Panama) co-authored the following post for Climate Action Network’s ECO publication. After this weekend’s CDM reform workshop, ECO has new hope for the CDM’s ability to address human rights. For the first time in the history of the CDM, Parties … Read More.
World Bank President Jim Kim has challenged the world with a new campaign, #whatwillittake to end poverty? But it’s not just what you do, it’s how you do it. Economic development will not improve the lives of people unless it is accompanied by the guarantee of the full enjoyment of their human rights. Projects financed … Read More.
It’s a truism in environmentalism that the farther you are from the impact of your action, the less you know and, for the most part, the less you care. That’s just what the International Finance Corporation (IFC)—the private sector lending arm of the World Bank—has done through its investments in so-called financial intermediaries (FIs). A … Read More.
As we arrive in La Puya, an enormous banner spans the breadth of the roadway: “The extraction of our natural resources only means progress for the foreigners. NO TO MINING.” Past the banner at the entrance to the “El Tambor” project, owned by U.S.-based Kappes, Cassidy and Associates, more than 50 people are gathered in … Read More.
Today, CIEL, along with Amnesty International, Bretton Woods Project, and International Accountability Project, submitted a letter to the Vice President and CEO of the IFC, Lars Thunell, urging the IFC to respect and protect human rights. What is the IFC? The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector lending arm of the World Bank, lends … Read More.
On March 1, 2011, activists will hold rallies in cities around the world to mark a Day of Action, calling on the World Bank to phase out lending for fossil fuel generated power. For those who can’t attend in person, there will be virtual actions on the same day, which is very exciting! Most often, … Read More.
As the muted colors of the Guatemalan altiplano blurred by the tinted windows of the van, something in the valley caught my eye: an enormous, nearly glowing chartreuse-colored body of water. Closer inspection revealed this unnatural color emanated from the residual waters in the tailings pond of Goldcorp Inc.’s Marlin Mine in San Marcos, Guatemala. … Read More.
One of my daughters just returned from a one-week trip sponsored by SmileTrain to provide free medical care to underprivileged Colombians. As expected, many of the patients had cleft palates. Unexpectedly, many of the children had disfiguring and immobilizing burns suffered while working with hydrochloric acid processing cocaine. Some children could not bend their elbows … Read More.