The World Bank’s private investment arm is refusing to directly compensate individuals who faced sexual, physical, and financial harms at a chain of schools it funded in Africa and India, despite requests from the people who were hurt and pressure from civil society advocates, U.S. senators, and an internal watchdog.
A new study by civic society groups accuses the Asian Development Bank of indirectly financing coal power plants in Indonesia as the multilateral holds its annual general meeting in Tbilisi, Georgia.
Green NGOs have accused the Asian Development Bank of indirectly financing coal plants in Indonesia through a $600 million loan despite promises to no longer fund projects tied to the fossil fuel, according to a new report.
A coalition of NGOs working for a sustainable and equitable electric vehicle value chain is urging the International Standards Organisation (ISO) to put civil society at the centre of its upcoming critical mineral supply chain standard.
World Bank chief Ajay Banga apologized earlier this month for the organization’s handling of widespread child sexual abuse at a chain of for-profit Kenyan schools that it funded through the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the bank’s investment arm.
U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, which finances private sector development solutions, has asked its independent office that reviews complaints to investigate its investment in Bridge International Academies, a for-profit chain of schools where child sex abuse was reported in Kenya in 2020.
A new open-access online tool, developed by human rights NGO Inclusive Development International and the University of Chicago Data Science Institute, aims to address this issue. Called PalmWatch, it links 15 major industrial consumers of palm oil, such as Nestlé, PepsiCo and Unilever, to the ground-level impacts of their palm oil consumption, including deforestation.
The UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights has finished a draft report that aims to establish the “responsibilities and capacity” of ESG index and data providers to assess human rights risks for their clients.
World Bank President Ajay Banga has apologized for the “trauma” experienced by children sexually abused at schools in Kenya supported by the bank’s private-sector arm, but has stopped short of offering them financial compensation.
The World Bank’s internal watchdog on Thursday criticized the organization’s handling and oversight of its investment in a chain of Kenyan schools that were subject to an internal investigation after allegations that students were abused.
