Around the world, development finance institutions (DFIs) are heavily investing in highly repressive contexts, where people cannot publicly voice their concerns and civil society groups are unable to operate freely. “Financing Repression: Why development banks must rethink finance in countries blocking civic freedoms” combines quantitative analysis of DFIs’ investments and case studies to:
- reveal the extent to which development banks are funding projects in countries with closed civic space;
- explain why civic space restrictions should be a critical concern for development banks;
- outline a series of recommendations that development banks should follow before approving projects in such contexts.
The report is available in English, French, Spanish and Russian.
Case studies
Rogun dam: how development banks are ignoring violations of civic freedoms in Tajikistan
Azerbaijan: criminalization of anti-corruption activist Gubad Ibadoghlu
Criminalization of climate leaders in Vietnam
Reprisals against labour rights defenders in Uzbekistan
In Egypt, the EU and development banks keep financing the regime despite serious human rights violations
Launch event: full recording and audio clips
On December 4, a high level panel of speakers joined the launch of the report “Financing Repression”. You can listen to the full recording at this link, or click on the name of the panelists to listen to their intervention.
- Mary Lawlor | UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders
- Umida Niyazova | Uzbek Forum for Human Rights
- Jewher Ilham | Worker Rights Consortiumand daughter of jailed Uyghur human rights defender Ilham Toti
- Zhala Bayramova | Human Rights Lawyer and daughter of jailed Azerbaijani human rights defender Gubad Ibadoghlu
- Ryan Schlief | International Accountability Project
- Dalile Antúnez | Coalition for Human Rights in Development
Would you like to join our collective efforts to hold development banks accountable? Feel free to share, adapt and use this report, and get in touch if you have any questions!