Joint Civil Society Statement on IFC’s Draft Sustainability Framework

A joint statement by approximately 60 civil society organizations criticizing the International Finance Corporation's (IFC) draft Sustainability Framework for failing to adequately address and protect human rights.

• Civil society organizations argue that the IFC's draft Sustainability Framework fails to include adequate safeguards for human rights and has actually removed references to human rights that were present in a previous draft.
• The document asserts that the IFC's approach is inconsistent with the 'Protect, Respect and Remedy' framework developed by UN Special Representative Professor John Ruggie, specifically regarding the necessity of a human rights due diligence framework for corporate actors.
• The IFC is criticized for not requiring clients to perform human rights due diligence, instead allowing voluntary assessments for high-risk activities, and for failing to commit to its own due diligence process to avoid supporting activities that contribute to human rights abuses.
• The statement highlights a lack of transparency regarding Financial Intermediary (FI) sub-projects, noting that IFC proposes to disclose information only for 'high risk' sub-projects and only 'periodically,' despite FI activities representing nearly half of IFC investments.
• The draft framework is criticized for failing to uphold human rights standards in specific areas: it lacks requirements to assess impacts on the right to water; it only asks clients to 'minimize' gender-differentiated impacts; and it does not require evictions to be carried out in conformity with international human rights law.
• The document claims the IFC's approach to pollution and environmental damage fails to require clients to address potential impacts on the rights to health, housing, water, and food, ignoring the link between environmental damage and human rights violations.
• While the inclusion of Free Prior and Informed Consent for Indigenous Peoples is welcomed, the statement notes that this standard is limited to a 'narrow set of ‘special circumstances’.'

APA

Center for International Environmental Law (2011). Joint Civil Society Statement on IFC’s Draft Sustainability Framework. https://www.ciel.org/Publications/IFC_2Mar11.pdf

Chicago

Center for International Environmental Law. Joint Civil Society Statement on IFC’s Draft Sustainability Framework. 2011. https://www.ciel.org/Publications/IFC_2Mar11.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Center for International Environmental Law |title=Joint Civil Society Statement on IFC’s Draft Sustainability Framework |date=March 2011 |url=https://www.ciel.org/Publications/IFC_2Mar11.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{centerforinternationalenvironmentallaw2011joint, author = {{Center for International Environmental Law}}, title = {{Joint Civil Society Statement on IFC’s Draft Sustainability Framework}}, publisher = {Center for International Environmental Law}, year = {2011}, month = mar, url = {https://www.ciel.org/Publications/IFC_2Mar11.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }