On November 9-12, for the first time ever, all public development banks in the world gathered at the Finance in Common Summit, to discuss how to address global challenges such as the climate crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Unfortunately, though, human rights and community-led development were not on the agenda. Those most impacted by the investments of development banks – local communities, Indigenous Peoples and human rights defenders – did not have the opportunity to raise their concerns at the Summit, despite growing evidence of human rights abuses linked to development banks investments.
Thanks to a global campaign and advoacy efforts – led by hundreds of civil society groups from around the world and several United Nations special procedures – the final declaration of the summit included a reference to community-led development and human rights. But there are no concrete actionable commitments, and much more needs to be done. If governments and their public banks are serious about transformation, and leaving behind old patterns of crises, human rights in common have to come before finance in common.
RESOURCES
- Joint letter – « GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT SUMMIT NEEDS HUMAN RIGHTS FOCUS, SAY 200 ORGANIZATIONS AROUND THE WORLD«
- A decade of human rights abuses
- The dirty side of development finance
- Podcast – « The human rights cost of development finance »
- Op-ed: « It is time public development banks put their money where our future lies«
;
