EWS Project Alert: IDB Support to Investment Attraction and Job Creation in Honduras (ZEDEs) PROJECT SUMMARY

The document analyzes a proposed $20 million IDB loan to Honduras for the creation of ZEDEs, highlighting severe risks to governance, human rights, and environmental standards. It argues that ZEDEs, which are privately governed autonomous zones, undermine the Honduran Constitution and violate multiple IDB operational policies regarding transparency, indigenous rights, and involuntary resettlement.

• The IDB proposes a $20 million loan to support the Honduran government in the 'conceptualization and preparation of technical studies and designs' for Employment and Economic Development Zones (ZEDEs) intended to increase investment and formal employment.
• ZEDEs are characterized by extreme autonomy, including the power to operate independent judicial systems using foreign judges, create their own public policies, utilize private police forces, and establish their own educational curricula.
• The ZEDE framework poses significant risks to labor and human rights, as it allows for the potential nullification of existing labor laws and contracts, lacks protections for living wages, and provides no safeguards against forced displacement.
• The project is argued to violate several IDB Operational Policies, specifically regarding transparency (OP-102), disaster risk management (OP-704), environmental governance (OP-703), public utilities (OP-708), involuntary resettlement (OP-710), gender equality (OP-761), and indigenous peoples (OP-765).
• The ZEDE Law (Decree No. 120-2013) is described as reducing protections under the Honduran Constitution and violating international treaty obligations, including the American Convention on Human Rights and ILO 169.

APA

Alford-Jones, K. (2017). EWS Project Alert: IDB Support to Investment Attraction and Job Creation in Honduras (ZEDEs) PROJECT SUMMARY. Center for International Environmental Law. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/EWS-Project-Alert-ZEDEs.pdf

Chicago

Alford-Jones, Kelsey. EWS Project Alert: IDB Support to Investment Attraction and Job Creation in Honduras (ZEDEs) PROJECT SUMMARY. Center for International Environmental Law, 2017. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/EWS-Project-Alert-ZEDEs.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Alford-Jones |first1=Kelsey |title=EWS Project Alert: IDB Support to Investment Attraction and Job Creation in Honduras (ZEDEs) PROJECT SUMMARY |publisher=Center for International Environmental Law |date=16 November 2017 |url=https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/EWS-Project-Alert-ZEDEs.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{alfordjones2017ews, author = {Alford-Jones, Kelsey}, title = {{EWS Project Alert: IDB Support to Investment Attraction and Job Creation in Honduras (ZEDEs) PROJECT SUMMARY}}, institution = {Center for International Environmental Law}, year = {2017}, month = nov, url = {https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/EWS-Project-Alert-ZEDEs.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }