Accountability Counsel amplifies the voices of communities around the world to protect their human rights and environment. As advocates for people harmed by internationally financed projects, we employ community driven and policy level strategies to access justice.
Impact
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Communities Supported40
Our impact in 40 communities includes redesigned projects that now reflect community needs, harm stopped and prevented to defend water resources, and agreements resulting in compensation and other remedies.
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Policy Influenced66
We advocate for the world's 66 accountability offices to be independent, transparent, fair, and effective. Our impact is improved global policy and practice at multilateral and bilateral development institutions, U.N. agencies, and within the OECD.
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Accountability Data Exposed24k
We expose patterns in the accountability office system related to 24,450 data points that we track and evaluate. Our analysis has influenced global policy and is a tool for advocates. This database goes live later in 2019.
News
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12 April, 2019Financiers sign up to IFC’s ‘common market standard’ for impact investing
Sixty investors, who collectively manage more than $350 billion in assets, signed on to the IFC’s new impact investing principles, which are intended to bring greater transparency, credibility, and discipline to the impact investing market. In a joint submission Accountability Counsel authored, civil society groups that focus on strengthening accountability within international financial institutions said they welcomed the principles, but called for a stronger emphasis on accountability. -
12 April, 2019
How IFC is dealing with pressure to boost accountability
CSOs and the CAO respond to IFC CEO Philippe Le Houérou’s statement calling for a stronger approach to accountability. Accountability Counsel’s Policy Director Kindra Mohr is quoted about the need for the IFC to respond to long-standing issues of non-compliance and harm from existing CAO cases to make the IFC’s commitment matter in practice. -
10 April, 2019IFC Commitment to Accountability Will Be Tested in Short Order
We welcome this morning’s statement from International Finance Corporation (IFC) CEO Philippe Le Houérou on accountability, which comes on the heels of the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision to end IFC absolute immunity from lawsuits in U.S. courts and as its accountability system undergoes a review. In order to matter in practice, this statement must transform into immediate IFC action to implement concrete changes and make the institution truly accountable to the people its investments harm. -
8 April, 2019‘An example to all’: the Mongolian herders who took on a corporate behemoth – and won
Displaced from their land by multinational mining companies, nomadic herders defied the odds to preserve their heritage for future generations. Additional framing can be found on our Communities case page. -
4 April, 2019US Supreme Court rules against World Bank’s claim of absolute immunity
In late February, the US Supreme Court ruled against the claim by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the World Bank’s private sector arm, to absolute immunity from suit in the US. The case was brought by a community of Indian fisherfolk, represented by EarthRights International and the Stanford Law School Supreme Court Litigation Clinic, which sued the IFC for harm caused by the $450 million IFC-financed Tata Mundra coal-fired power plant in Gujarat, India.
