Report on Development Finance and Human Rights

This statement, submitted by Accountability Counsel and several endorsing organizations to the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights, provides feedback on the role of development finance institutions (DFIs) in ensuring accountability and remedy for human rights and environmental harms caused by their projects.

• Independent Accountability Mechanisms (IAMs) are essential governance tools for DFIs that allow communities to raise grievances regarding environmental, social, and human rights harms. These mechanisms operate through compliance reviews, which investigate if due diligence standards were followed, and dispute resolution, which mediates between complainants and project implementers. While over 1,600 complaints have been filed to IAMs since the first was established at the World Bank 30 years ago, challenges persist, including barriers to access, inequitable treatment, and DFI tendencies to ignore investigation findings or provide insufficient remedial actions.
• The authors argueC recommend that DFIs strengthen existing IAMs by expanding their scope to investigate client compliance with project requirements and granting them the power to make binding recommendations for remedy.S. Additionally, DFIs should establish dedicated remedy frameworks created through public consultation to ensure resources are available throughout the project cycle to address harms.
• The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is currently consulting on a draft approach to remedy, but the authors argue it is insufficient. They state the draft must be improved by detailing the types of remedies available, committing the IFC to directly finance remedialS remedial measures, and extending the pilot of the approach to include existing projects.
• There is a significant accountability gap among DFI networks and associations. The authors note that few of the 15 members of the EDFI Association and the vast majority of the over 500 members of Finance in Common lack full-fledged IAMs. The statement urges these networks to require IAMs as a condition of membership.
• States have a duty under international instruments to facilitate accountability and remedy for human rights abuses. This includes ensuring national DFIs operate effective IAMs and using their positions as shareholders or beneficiaries in regional and multilateral development banks to encourage accountability. States should also provide judicial and non-judicial avenues to hold corporations accountable for harms within their jurisdiction.
• DFIs that currently lack an Independent Accountability Mechanism (IAM) should immediately establish one through public consultation to ensure the mechanism is community-centered and incorporates best practices.

APA

Trend Asia (2023). Report on Development Finance and Human Rights. https://trendasia.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/3.6.23-OHCHR-DFI-Comment_Final-1.pdf

Chicago

Trend Asia. Report on Development Finance and Human Rights. 2023. https://trendasia.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/3.6.23-OHCHR-DFI-Comment_Final-1.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Trend Asia |title=Report on Development Finance and Human Rights |date=6 March 2023 |url=https://trendasia.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/3.6.23-OHCHR-DFI-Comment_Final-1.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{trendasia2023report, author = {{Trend Asia}}, title = {{Report on Development Finance and Human Rights}}, publisher = {Trend Asia}, year = {2023}, month = mar, url = {https://trendasia.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/3.6.23-OHCHR-DFI-Comment_Final-1.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }