The UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights held its first forum on December 4 and 5 in Geneva. The Halifax Initiative spoke at the forum on a panel concerning public financial institutions and human rights. ECA-Watch, CIEL and BankTrack disseminated the attached document at the forum containing analysis and recommendations regarding financial institutons and human rights.

Article prepared for the 'Global Capital, Global Rights' workshop convened by SFU and UBC. The text discusses civil society efforts in support of Bill C-300, legislation that sought to create accountability mechanisms regarding the provision of government support to Canadian extractive companies that operate overseas.

Statement by the Latin American Observatory of Environmental Conflicts concerning Barrick Gold's failure to secure financing from Export Development Canada and the U.S. Export-Import Bank for its Pascua Lama project on the border between Chile and Argentina.

The international civil society network, ECA-Watch, provides substantive input on the latest iteration of the OECD 'Common Approaches' regarding export credit agencies.

The IMF has committed itself to ending European dominance of selection of its managing director, and introducing an open, merit-based and transparent process. This paper sets out the three key elements to ensuring a successful process next time: a focus on selecting the best candidate available; a clear, fair, and transparent process; and the legitimacy gained from the backing of a majority of countries as well as IMF voting shares.

Le 17 février 2011,

L’Honorable James Flaherty
Ministre des Finances
Ministère des Finances Canada
140, O’Connor Street
Ottawa, ON  K1A 0G5

Monsieur le Ministre,

Re : consultation 2010-2011 au sujet de la Loi sur la responsabilité en matière d’aide au développement officielle