Peacebuilding and Conflict Resolution | Accountability Counsel

Where international investment from powerful actors uses natural resources like water or land that sustain life for local people, conflict is a predictable result. Particularly where local people are not served by the rule of law to assert their rights due to corruption or discrimination, communities often have few ways to be heard. When resource conflicts due to international finance and investment take place in the context of underlying active violence, in post-conflict environments of fragile peace, or in countries going through transitional justice processes, local people can face even greater risks of harm.

In this way, international investment can fuel violence: violence where corporations or governments abuse people dissenting at the local level, or creation of instability that risks violent conflict at a local, regional or even national level. We have seen both types of violence caused by international investment at Accountability Counsel through our Communities program cases, and our Research program has documented 66 cases of violence against communities and retaliation brought through accountability office complaints in a public database, the Accountability Console.

Accountability offices can be a valuable tool for communities facing conflicts with corporations, their governments or international institutions. Through filing a complaint to an independent accountability office, communities can work toward compliance investigations or dispute resolution that can reach agreements to restore peace, prevent violence, and remedy harm through a peacebuilding process. Learn more here.

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India: Assam Tea Plantations

22 October 2019 – IFC fails to ensure proper work protection for tea workers in India By Amruta Byatnal, Devex
30 January 2019 – Shifting Risk from the Poor to the Powerful Through Accountability: 2019 World Bank Group Annual Meetings Read Out
28 January 2019 – Press Release: World Bank and Tata Group Must Take Urgent Action to Address Long-Standing Health and Safety Concerns on Their Tea Plantations in India
11 December 2018 – UK companies can help break the cycle of poverty wages on Assam’s tea plantations By Anirudha Nagar, Accountability Counsel, in CORE Coalition

Peru: Oil in the Amazon

15 April 2015 – Gold Rush: How the World Bank is Financing Environmental Destruction By Ben Hallman and Roxana Olivera, HuffPost & International Consortium of Investigative Journalists

Nepal: Khimti-Dhalkebar Transmission Line

22 November 2019 – Investors in Nepal’s hydropower sector must address concerns of local communities and Indigenous Peoples
5 February 2019 – Gaining Access to Information: The Case of Nepali Communities & The World Bank By Siddharth Akali, Accountability Counsel, & Shankar Limbu, LAHURNIP
22 January 2018 – Disappointing dialogue in Sindhuli provides lessons for community participation in Nepal’s development By Siddharth Akali, Accountability Counsel, & Shankar Limbu, LAHURNIP, in The Record

Haiti: Caracol Industrial Park

14 January 2020 – Haiti farmers eager to receive compensation after ‘groundbreaking’ land deal By Jacob Kushner, Thomson Reuters Foundation
9 January 2020 – When HOPE is POWER: Haitian Farmers Defend Land Rights in Historic Dialogue Process By Lani Inverarity, Accountability Counsel
29 March 2019 – AAAS connects human rights groups with science experts By Andrea Korte, Science Magazine
29 January 2019 – Displaced farmers’ coalition reclaims their road to sustainable livelihoods 9 years after Haiti’s devastating earthquake By Janine Mendes-Franco, Global Voices
14 January 2019 – Haiti Farmers Demanded Justice After Losing Their Land – Their Victory Shows What Empowering Workers Can Achieve By Lani Inverarity, Accountability Counsel, in Business & Human Rights Resource Centre

Liberia: Biomass Project in Buchanan

26 March 2019 – What happens when a DFI project goes wrong? By Teresa Welsh, Devex
17 July 2018 – It Takes Consultation to Help a Village By Rachel Cernansky, New York Times
3 March 2017 – AC and Partners Successfully Press OPIC to Strengthen Its Environmental and Social Policy Statement
8 December 2016 – New FOIA Release Shows U.S. Agency Ignored Warnings While Investing Millions in Failed Project in Liberia By Kindra Mohr & Lani Inverarity, Accountability Counsel, in HuffPost

Myanmar: Ridge to Reef Project

20 August 2019 – Indigenous Communities in Myanmar Take Action Against Top-Down Conservation By Anirudha Nagar, Accountability Counsel, in The Diplomat
9 August 2019 – UN Team Meets Locals to Discuss Issues with Tanintharyi Conservation Project By Kyaw Soe Htet, Myanmar Times

Mexico: Oaxaca Hydroelectric

5 June 2019 – A Conversation with Gabino Vicente: Preventing Environmental Harm in International Development
26 March 2019 – What happens when a DFI project goes wrong? By Teresa Welsh, Devex
9 April 2018 – Community watches over creek’s turtles By Mexico News Daily
31 January 2018 – The Human Rights Ripple Effect By New Media Advocacy Project

Mongolia: South Gobi Mining

8 April 2019 – ‘An example to all’: the Mongolian herders who took on a corporate behemoth – and won By Rod Austin, The Guardian
13 February 2019 – A long road to remedy
9 August 2017 – How a group of Mongolian herders took on a mining giant – and won By Sophie Edwards, Devex
26 June 2017 – Mongolian herders ink historic agreement with Oyu Tolgoi mine, government By Accountability Counsel, in MINING.com

India: Jharkhand Water Project

2 March 2020 – In Deep Water: Will the World Bank honor its commitments to the poor in an Indian water project?
4 April 2019 – No consent of communities? World Bank to investigate water supply project in Jharkhand By Development Channel
4 April 2019 – Nod for probe into World Bank-funded project in Jharkhand By Abhishek Angad, The Indian Express
16 July 2016 – Water War By Hindustan Times

Affected communities in Nepal raising their concerns about the transmission line project with an Inspection Panel representative
Communities affected by Ridge to Reef project are taking action to ensure that conservation efforts respect their rights
Female workers in Liberia gathered to learn about an accountability office investigation into Buchanan Renewables' biomass project
Representatives of the Kolektif meeting with MICI
South Gobi herders' traditional culture and livelihoods are affected by Rio Tinto’s Oyu Tolgoi (OT) Mine, one of the world’s largest gold and copper mines
Indigenous Adivasi communities in Jharkhand worry their water resources will be polluted or depleted as a result of the project
Shipibo residents of Nuevo Sucre, Peru protesting Maple Energy's harmful operations on their land
AC's community training session in Mexico on OPIC's Office of Accountability
Tea workers on APPL plantation in Assam, India.