Blog

On July 1st, Accountability Counsel and 8 partner organizations submitted a comment letter to the World Bank’s Grievance Redress Service (GRS).  The comment urges the World Bank to ensure that the GRS is predictable, transparent, and accessible. In particular, our comments on the GRS Draft Operating Procedures request that the…

Last week, Lani Inverarity represented Accountability Counsel at el Taller Mecanismos de Rendición de Cuentas y Sociedad Civil (Workshop of Accountability Mechanisms and Civil Society) in México City.  The workshop was co-hosted by civil society organizations FUNDAR, el Centro de Colaboración Cívica, and el Grupo Regional sobre Financiamento e Infraestructura,…

Accountability Counsel joins civil society organizations concerned about labor rights issues on tea plantations in Assam in signing an open letter to coincide with TEAM UP 2016, a conference on tea and sustainability taking place in London on June 14, 2016. The letter is targeted at brands and retailers purchasing Assam tea and expresses…

  Accountability Counsel welcomes our 2016 Law & Policy Fellows and Intern class who will be working with us this summer on our cases and policy initiatives around the world. This experienced group comes to us having previously worked in Mongolia, Guatemala, Mexico and Ghana.

Accountability Counsel is pleased to share a Code of Ethics that memorializes an approach our organization has long used toward our work in communities. We worked with a number of our civil society colleagues through the International Advocates Working Group to adapt the language in the Code with permission from the Community…

Accountability Counsel joins over 300 organizations from around the world in signing an open letter to World Bank’s President Dr. Jim Yong Kim, in response to a statement he made during an event at the Union Theological Seminary in New York. In answering a question about the impacts of large dam projects as illustrated…

Accountability Counsel team members Komala Ramachandra and Anirudha Nagar just returned from the Sindhuli District in Nepal, where they traveled to investigate the recent violence that erupted April 10th, 2016 as communities peacefully protested a World Bank-funded transmission line project.

Accountability Counsel submitted a Letter to President Obama today urging reform of the US OECD National Contact Point.  Accountability Counsel reiterated and updated recommendations we made to the US Government over a year ago as part of the National Action Plan process. We expect the final US National Action Plan on Responsible Business Conduct to be released soon and hope our recommendations are reflected in the plan.  

Accountability Counsel is pleased to announce that Siddharth Akali will be joining our team as a consultant, collaborating with us on our work in South Asia.

Last week, the government of Nepal indicated that they wanted to restart construction on the World Bank-financed Khimti-Dhalkebar high-voltage transmission line project that had been halted as a result of community complaints. This led to protests by affected communities on April 10, 2016, when about 160 people took part in a peaceful sit-in outside government offices.

Last week, three Accountability Counsel team members traveled to Colombia to support our local partners, community-based organization Comunidades Unidas, during an investigation into their case.

In a Bretton Woods Project blog post out this week, Powerless: a call for World Bank community engagement in Nepal, Accountability Counsel’s South Asia Director, Komala Ramachandra, and our Nepali partner at LAHURNIP, Shankar Limbu, argue that the “World Bank has a unique opportunity to remedy its part in numerous safeguard breaches, to prevent future and potentially grave human rights violations in its projects, and to take a leadership role in building positive and inclusive development outcomes in Nepal.”

Brent comes to us with deep experience in strategy and expertise in growing organizations to scale. Currently a senior member of the Global Partnerships team at Yahoo, Brent is a recognized thought leader in the field of digital media.

A new report released today by a group of international NGOs including Accountability Counsel finds that Rio Tinto’s new planned mine, situated on the world’s largest undeveloped copper deposit in the Gobi desert of Mongolia, will have big impacts on the land and water resources of some of the last remaining nomadic herder groups.

This week, the Inter-American Development Bank’s independent accountability office, called MICI, announced that an investigation will move forward of the Bank’s role in severe harm to human health caused by expansion of the El Dorado International Airport in Bogotá, Colombia.

We are pleased to share our three-year report with you: Amplifying Voices, Defending Rights.  Covering September 2012 to August 2015, we bring your our work in three programs, Communities, Policy, and Resources.  We share our vision, and invite you to meet the people who serve our clients and make Accountability Counsel thrive: our staff, student fellows, pro bono teams, and donors.  We welcome your feedback!

The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), a U.S. federal agency, announced a December 9th consultation for civil society on its Environmental and Social Policy Statement.  This consultation comes just as Accountability Counsel has asked OPIC to comment on their implementation of recommendations from the OPIC Office of Accountability following our Liberia case investigation report.  The consultation is the first step in a full revision of the policy, due in large part to the findings from the Liberia case.

Accountability Counsel supports Bankwatch and local communities on a case involving the highly controversial Kolubara lignite mine.  Last week, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s own independent Project Complaint Mechanism released a report finding violations of the bank’s environmental and social policies when approving a loan related to the Serbian mine.  You can read Bankwatch’s article on the case here.

Save Lamu, a community-based organization representing over 35 organizations, wrote to the African Development Bank (“AfDB”) demanding that it halt its preparation of a risk guarantee proposal associated with a planned coal power plant in Lamu County, Kenya.

The World Bank’s own Inspection Panel released a statement yesterday questioning the role for accountability in light of the proposed changes to the World Bank’s safeguard policies.  As an example of a loophole the draft policy fails to close, the Panel offers Accountability Counsel’s case related to mining in Haiti, where because of the Bank’s use of a Bank Executed Trust Fund (BETF), the Bank claimed social and environmental rules did not apply.