Banks| Policies| Dodgy Deals| Campaigns
About us| Blog| Publications| Successes| Contact us| Donate
About BankTrack
Visit us
Organisation
Our team
Our board
Guiding principles
Team up with us
Jobs at BankTrack
Our annual reports
Funding and finances
History
BankTrack in the media
Our privacy policy
Donate
2023-01-23 00:00:00
Berta Cáceres: new rules for banks could help stop defender killings
2023-01-16 00:00:00
In the balance: Why European due diligence legislation must cover financial services
2022-12-08 00:00:00
Exposed: Western banks funding Qatar’s carbon bombs
2022-12-08 00:00:00
Right-wing attack on sustainable finance is the latest form of climate denial
2022-12-14 11:08:26
HSBC announces it will no longer finance new oil and gas fields
2022-10-13 15:56:39
More major banks and insurers refuse to support EACOP
2022-09-16 10:38:48
European Parliament passes emergency resolution against human rights violations & environmental threats linked to EACOP
2022-06-27 09:49:16
Crédit Agricole takes first step to phase out from the oil and gas sector
Connect
2022-11-22 00:00:00
Banking on Thin Ice: Two years in the heat
2022-11-17 00:00:00
BankTrack Global Human Rights Benchmark 2022
2022-10-21 00:00:00
Burning forests in the name of clean energy? How banks are failing to exclude the harmful wood biomass industry from finance
2022-06-28 00:00:00
The East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP): Finance Risk Update No. 3
2022-04-05 00:00:00
The BankTrack Human Rights Benchmark Asia
2022-03-30 00:00:00
Banking on Climate Chaos 2022
See all publications
Browse
Home
Banks
Policies
Dodgy Deals
Campaigns
About
About BankTrack
Donate
Contact BankTrack
Publications
Victories
Follow Us
News
BankTrack blog
Facebook
Twitter Fossil Banks No Thanks Twitter Fossil Banks No Thanks Instagram
Affiliate Websites
Fossil Banks No Thanks
StopEACOP
Forests & Finance
Banks & Biodiversity
Drop JBS
Bank of Coal
Don't Buy into Occupation
Home › News
Banks Lack Robust Framework for Minimizing Social Risks
Equator Principles fail to adequately address human rights
Start

2008-08-07
Washington

Contact:

Anne Perrault, CIEL, +1 202-742-5850; aperrault@ciel.org 
Steve Herz, BIC, +1 510-338-1237; steve.herz@sbcglobal.net
Johan Frijns, BankTrack, +31-24-3249220, coord@banktrack.org


Share this page:

Photo: Equator Principles
Go to:
Start
A new study finds that international project financiers, including the leading international banks and the International Finance Corporation, do not have a robust framework for minimizing the social risks posed by their projects. The study—The International Finance Corporation’s Performance Standards and the Equator Principles: Respecting Human Rights and Remedying Violations?—notes that recently-adopted standards are not likely to reduce potential human rights-related conflicts that may arise in projects.

The Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) and the Bank Information Center (BIC), with support from World Resources Institute, Oxfam Australia and BankTrack, used the Danish Institute for Human Rights’ Human Rights Compliance Assessment tool to analyze the extent to which the International Finance Corporation’s (IFC) Performance Standards address human rights concerns.

The analysis reveals that the IFC Performance Standards and Equator Principles fail to address most critical human rights adequately and fail, even, to ensure that human rights concerns are assessed.

The IFC is the private sector financing arm of the World Bank Group, and is widely viewed as the leader among international project financiers for its environmental and social risk management standards. The “Equator Principle” financial institutions, which represent over 70 percent of project finance in emerging markets, have committed to apply the IFC’s standards. In 2007, US$52.9 billion of project finance debt in emerging market economies was subject to the Equator Principles. In addition, the export credit agencies (ECAs) of the members of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development have agreed to adopt the IFC’s standards as a common environmental and social benchmark for export credits and loan guarantees.

To assess the relevance of human rights to project finance, the study reviewed 60 projects that generated complaints from locally-affected communities, and determined that these projects implicated most of the internationally recognized human rights. Among the rights most often implicated were the right to food, right to property, right to life, and right to health.

The groups submitted this study to the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary General on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises, Professor John Ruggie, requesting his attention to this issue.

Daniel Magraw, President of the Center for International Environmental Law, notes that, in a June 2008 report to the Human Rights Council, Special Representative Ruggie indicated that companies have a “baseline responsibility” to respect all internationally recognized human rights. Steve Herz, an author of the current study, stated, “The Performance Standards and Equator Principles must be significantly amended if they are to provide project sponsors with appropriate guidance for meeting their human rights responsibilities and minimizing human rights-related risks.”

Download report


  • Study: The international finance corporation's performance standards and the equator principles: respecting human rights and remedying violations? Download
  • Appendix 1: Case Studies Illustrating the Human Rights Implications of Large-Scale, Internationally-Financed Projects. Download
  • Appendix 2: International Human Rights Conventions Referenced in the Danish Institute’s Human Rights Compliance Assessment. Download
  • Appendix 3: Analysis of IFC Performance Standards/Equator Principles Using the Danish Institute of Human Rights’ Human Rights Compliance Assessment. Download

Further Information


  • Center for International Environmental Law: www.ciel.org
  • Bank Information Center: www.bicusa.org
  • World Resources Institute: www.wri.org
Browse
Home
Banks
Policies
Dodgy Deals
Campaigns
About
About BankTrack
Donate
Contact BankTrack
Publications
Victories
Follow Us
News
BankTrack blog
Facebook
Twitter Fossil Banks No Thanks Twitter Fossil Banks No Thanks Instagram
Affiliate Websites
Fossil Banks No Thanks
StopEACOP
Forests & Finance
Banks & Biodiversity
Drop JBS
Bank of Coal
Don't Buy into Occupation
Vismarkt 15
6511 VJ Nijmegen
The Netherlands

Tel: +31 24 324 9220
Contact@banktrack.org
©2016 BankTrack                Webdesign by BankTrack and EASYmind
BankTrack is a registered charity in the Netherlands (ANBI) - RSIN 813874658
Find our privacy policy here

Stay up to date

Sign up now for all BankTrack's news


Make a comment

Your comment will be reviewed, before being posted