"One Step Forward, One Step Back" (May 2006)

This analysis of the International Finance Corporation's (IFC) Sustainability Policy, Performance Standards and Disclosure Policy provides a brief overview of each policy and standard, where it goes beyond the previous safeguard policies, where it falls short, and what is missing in terms of addressing the extractives industries.

It is intended to be used by the international civil society community, as well as to inform Canadian organizations preparing for a series of public government roundtables in 2006 on "Corporate Social Responsibility and the Extractive Sector in Developing Countries." The roundtables will examine the need for policy and legal reform in Canada regarding the overseas activities of the Canadian extractives sector. The IFC's Performance Standards are promoted by some actors as the central guidelines against which all Canadian extractives activity should be measured.

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