Projects Reports and Analysis
Section Articles
Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability (CNCA) Submission regarding the April 2008 Report of the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative on Business and Human Rights
This submission provides feedback regarding the final report to the first part of the Special Representative's mandate.
Policy Brief: Canada at the World Bank and IMF – Watching from the sidelines? - July 2008
In 2007, Finance Canada substantially improved both the content and format of its annual "Report on Operations under the Bretton Woods and Related Agreements Act". Now that the government has finally disclosed its positions on issues, and its priorities looking forward, HI is finally in a position to critique some of the issues covered in these reports. This policy brief addresses some of the most important issues covered in the report, most of which have been a traditional focus of our work.
Dirty Business, Dirty Practice - How the Federal Government Supports Mining, Oil and Gas Abroad (May 2007)
A new CNCA web site and publication that documents, with case studies, the eight ways the Federal Government supports Canadian mining, oil and gas companies abroad. The Halifax Initiative was a contributing author to the publication.
*EDC letter to HI on the report (July 2007)
*HI response to EDC (September 2007)
Letter from the IFC in response to "One Step Forward, One Step Back" - September 29, 2006
This letter from the International Finance Corporation's Director of the Environment and Social Development, Rachel Kyte, responds to a number of issues raised in our report on the IFC's new Performance Standards, "One Step Forward, One Step Back", and attempts to set the record straight "as a matter of public record". The detailed response to a number of issues is included in annex 1, with a statement on IFC's approach to human rights in Annex 2, both included here as a pdf.
The Legal Obligations With Respect to Human Rights and Export Credit Agencies (July 2006)
This Legal Analysis is a revision of an earlier discussion paper prepared for ESCR-Net and ECA-Watch. It provides an overview of Export Credit Agencies, and how ECA-funded activities impact human rights. It explores the international law of state responsibility as applied to ECAs, concluding that ECAs, as organs or agents of the state, must comply with the international obligations of the state. It then explores the legal implications of this conclusion for ECAs.
"One Step Forward, One Step Back" (May 2006)
Overview and Analysis of the International Finance Corporation's (IFC) Sustainability Policy, Performance Standards and Disclosure Policy
Two Reports - Driving under World Bank and IMF Influence (October 2005)
Two reports, prepared in 2005 by the Social Justice Committee, look at the role of the World Bank and the IMF in Guyana and Senegal, highlighting how excessive control of the institutions over development plans undermines democracy and the programs themselves.
The Divisive Demonstration Impact of the Marlin Mine - June 2005
Glamis Gold's Marlin Mine in Guatemala represents the "Company's most important gold asset," and the World Bank's hopes for a poster-child that would set a new standard for "sustainable mining." Yet before operations have even begun, the controversial projecthas become a focal point for protest and has consolidated opposition to mining in the country.
Comments on Bank Operational Policy on Indigenous Peoples (February 2005)
The Halifax Initiative Coalition sent official comments to the World Bank's Indigenous Peoples Coordinator highlighting the need for the World Bank to strengthen its draft Operational Policy (OP 4.10) on Indigenous Peoples in order to ensure that it sufficiently meets international standards and guarantees on the rights of Indigenous Peoples.
"Race to the Bottom, Take II" (September 2003)
This report critiques Revision 6 of the OECD Common Approaches on environment and export credits, and documents nine projects (including the Cernavoda2 nuclear power plant and the Three Gorges dam) which have had devastating environmental, social and human rights impacts, and which have all received (or will soon recieve) funding by Export Credit Agencies, including Canada's EDC. The report argues that the Common Approaches did little to mitigate the devastating social, environmental and human rights impacts of ECA-funded projects.
"Damming Evidence - Canada and the World Commission on Dams" (June 2003)
The Report asks why Canada, which has a record of financing large dam projects through EDC and CIDA, chose to give $100,000 to support the World Commission on Dams, but has failed to implement its recommendations. The report gives a brief overview of the WCD recommendations, and compares them with EDC and CIDA's policies with regards to the environment.
Review of "Damming Evidence" (2003)
Read this review in World Rivers Review, the newsletter for International Rivers Network, of "Damming Evidence: Canada and the World Commission on Dams."
"Seven Deadly Secrets: What Export Development Canada does not want you to know" (January 2003)
This report documents seven projects being pursued by Canadian companies abroad that will have negative environmental, social and human rights impacts. It includes a more detailed critique of EDC?s environment and disclosure policies.
New Report Highlights Environmental Risks of EDC Deal on CANDU Reactor (November 2002)
This report, commissioned by European NGOs analyses the existing environmental impact assessment information for the Cernavoda 2 nuclear reactor and finds it deficient.
G8 Counter Conference, the G6B People's Summit (July 2002)
Final Report on the G6B People's Summit [PDF format ]
Reckless Lending - Volume II: How Canada's Export Development Corporation Puts People and the Environment and the Environment at Risk (May 2001)
Like the Report Reckless Lending Volume 1, Volume II documents the negative impacts of several projects financed by Canada's Export Development Corporation (EDC). These publications demonstrate clearly the need to ensure that EDC, a public agency, be required by law to uphold public policies and international standards protecting human rights, the environment and the social needs of communities (May 2001).
The IMF's Structural Adjustment Programme for Canada 1994-1995 (December 1995)
This report outlines the Structural Adjustment programs that Canada must adhere to governed by the IMF.
