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Newswire on the IFIs
- What more evidence does the World Bank need that carbon markets are not working?
- At sustainability congress, dam builder bars civil society from dialogue
- Austerity a moral issue as it inflicts millions
- World Bank compliance arm assessing fresh complaint against Vizhinjam port
- With Inga dams, donors set to repeat past failures
- Bangladesh exposes flaws in World Bank's Doing Business Index
Environment
This page links to information concerning a number of projects on which we have worked, in solidarity with local communities. In some cases, the projects rely on World Bank funding. In others they involve Canadian companies that may be seeking, or have secured, financial support from Export Development Canada (EDC). Sometimes they involve both. Regardless of the source of funding, in all cases, communities have contacted us because they are concerned about the significant adverse environmental, social and human rights impacts of the projects.
Oyu Tolgoi is an enormous copper and gold deposit in Mongolia. The project is jointly owned by Canadian company Turquoise Hill Resources and a state owned enterprise. According to the International Finance Corporation (IFC), estimated project cost is $12 billion. Project proponents seek financing from Export Development Canada, the IFC, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, among others. In this document, CSOs argue that the project does not comply with the IFC Performance Standards and provide a series of recommendations.
Presentation concerning the role of the private sector in international development with a focus on new CIDA programming in support of the extractive sector.
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.
In this letter to Export Development Canada and the U.S. Export-Import Bank, Chilean and Argentine organizations express harsh criticisms regarding the public agencies' due diligence processes concerning Barrick Gold's application for support for Pascua Lama.
Canadian mining interests in countries around the world are valued at tens of billions of dollars. Karyn Keenan looks at efforts by local communities to hold mining companies to account for human rights abuses. 'The issue of access to remedy for the victims of corporate abuse requires urgent attention,' she writes.
Keenan describes recent efforts by non-nationals who are affected by Canadian mining companies to seek redress through the Canadian justice system.
See full article in Pambazuka News.
See Spanish version.
Article concerning lack of accountability in Canada regarding our overseas extractive sector.
ODA accountability consultation; World Bank dumps human rights; Bank report on extractives ignores reality.
COMMENTS ON IFC’S CONSULTATION DRAFTS OF THE IFC SUSTAINABILITY POLICY AND PERFORMANCE STANDARDS AND DISCLOSURE POLICY
AUGUST 27, 2010
General Observations
The undersigned civil society organizations believe the latest drafts of the Sustainability Policy, Performance Standards, and Disclosure Policy respond usefully to some issues raised previously by many civil society organizations, including, for example, several issues related to gender, resettlement, and climate change. Many of our most significant concerns, however, remain unaddressed, including centrally important issues related to due diligence, transparency, and accountability, and other issues related to substantive concerns.
