Published May 15, 2025 By Carla García Zendejas, Director of CIEL’s People, Land, and Resources Program. In a historic moment, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) became the first development finance institution (DFI) to adopt an explicit policy on remedy. On April 15, IFC published its Remedial Action Framework (RAF), formalizing a commitment to address environmental … Read More.
Published October 14, 2024 By Aubrey Manahan, Campaigner for the People, Land & Resources Program at the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL). As the World Bank Group (WBG) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) prepare to convene their 2024 Annual Meetings from October 21-26 in Washington, DC, the pressure continues to ensure the World Bank’s … Read More.
Published October 7, 2024 By Carla García Zendejas, Director of CIEL’s People, Land, and Resources Program. On October 4, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) published its long-awaited Approach to Responsible Exit, marking a significant milestone for the institution. This shift represents IFC’s commitment to act and respond to environmental and social harms faced by project-affected … Read More.
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 July 10, 2024 By Aubrey Manahan, Campaigner for CIEL’s People, Land & Resources Program The International Finance Corporation (IFC) — the private lending arm of the World Bank — is expected to publish its first remedy and responsible exit policy framework in just a few weeks. This long-awaited policy was driven by decades of … 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.
Next week, the World Bank Group (WBG) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will host their Spring Meetings in Washington, DC, from April 10 to April 14. These yearly events are a combination of official closed-door meetings among World Bank and IMF leadership, public seminars on global economic development, and high-level events featuring prominent officials. … Read More.
This week, CIEL’s experts will be engaging at the meetings to discuss major issues and challenges facing communities who have been directly affected by development projects. This week, the World Bank Group (WBG) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are holding their Annual Meetings in Washington, DC. The meetings bring together finance ministers, government delegates, … 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.
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.
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.
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.
On December 12, 2017, hundreds of investors, governments, and civil society representatives joined French President Emmanuel Macron at the One Planet Summit to mark the second anniversary of the Paris Agreement. President Macron—joined by UN Secretary General António Guterres, Work Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim, and others—encouraged public and private financial institutions to accelerate … 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.
By Carla Garcia Zendejas, Director of the People, Land & Resources Program 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, … Read More.
By Leyla Balimtas, Communications Intern 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 … 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 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.
By Alyssa Alfonso 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 … Read More.
By Josephine Ong, Intern 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, … Read More.
By Josephine Ong, Intern 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 – … Read More.
By Josephine Ong, Intern 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 … Read More.
By Carla Garcia Zendejas, Director of People, Land & Resources Program 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 … Read More.
By Gregory Berry, Legal Intern 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 … Read More.
By Carla Garcia Zendejas, Director of People, Land & Resources Program 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 … 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, Early Warning Systems Intern, and Carla García Zendejas, Director of People, Land, and Resources 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 … Read More.
By Geffen Kozikaro, CIEL Early Warning Systems Intern 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 … 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.
By Geffen Kozikaro, CIEL Early Warning System Intern 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 … Read More.
By Carla Garcia Zendejas, Director of People, Land & Resources Program 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 … 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.
By Jocelyn Medallo, Senior Attorney 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 … 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 holding … 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.
By Jocelyn Medallo, Senior Attorney 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 … Read More.
By Blanche Helbling, Communications Intern 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 … Read More.
By Lainey Sidell, Communications Intern 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. … Read More.
Travelling from India on behalf of the Association for the Struggle for Fishworkers’ Rights or Machimar Adhikar Sangharsh Sangathan (MASS), Dr. Bharat Patel presented how the World Bank Group-funded Tata Mundra Power Plant has affected the community of Gujarat during the World Bank’s annual Spring Meetings. His contributions at the Bank’s meeting of Executive Directors … 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.
By Christine La, Communications Intern 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 … 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.
By Jocelyn Medallo, Senior Attorney 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, … 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.
By Jocelyn Medallo, Senior Attorney 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 … Read More.
By Kris Genovese, Senior Attorney 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 … Read More.
By Kris Genovese, Senior Attorney 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 … Read More.
By Kris Genovese, Senior Attorney 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 … Read More.
By Niranjali Amerasinghe, Director Climate & Energy Program Following the UN climate talks in Durban can be a tedious business. Even for a conference junkie like me. There are times when the discussions get so mired in petty political bargaining that it’s hard to keep the bigger picture in mind. People seem to forget why … Read More.
By Hana Heineken, Law Fellow 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 … Read More.
By Niranjali Amerasinghe, Director Climate & Energy Program 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 … Read More.
The World Bank, along with two other NGOs, held a panel discussion today on the trade implications of the ongoing climate negotiations. The final presentation, on Technology Transfer and Climate Change was the most substantive, as detailed below. The presentations did not address either labeling schemes, standards, border carbon adjustments, or subsidies. For an in … Read More.