Caucasus

The Southern Gas Corridor, a string of pipelines meant to bring gas from Azerbaijan into Europe, is presented as a panacea for all ills and is set to benefit from some of the biggest loans in the history of European public banks. But as this report reveals, Europe's flagship energy project is set to benefit a host of companies and individuals with a particularly shady track record. Several companies contracted to build the Southern Gas Corridor have a worrying history of corruption.

Ahead of the Asian Development Bank's board meeting where a loan to the Shah Deniz gas expansion project in Azerbaijan is to be discussed, a group of NGOs ask the ADB board to postpone a decision and align the ADB to the practice of other IFIs involved in financing the same and related gas projects.

Ahead of an expected loan decision by the Asian Development Bank for the Shah Deniz gas field in Azerbaijan, non-governmental organisations raised concerns over the human rights situation in the country as well as in Turkey, to where the gas from Shah Deniz will be transported via the Southern Gas Corridor.

In this letter, Human Rights Watch and Bankwatch highlight the ongoing repression of independent civil society in Azerbaijan and its impact on sustainable develpoment and urge the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development to limit its engagement in the country, specifically to not provide financing for projects related to the country's extractives sector such as the Trans-Anatolian Gas Pipeline (TANAP) and the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP).

In this letter, Human Rights Watch and Bankwatch highlight the ongoing repression of independent civil society in Azerbaijan and its impact on sustainable develpoment and urge the European Investment Bank to not provide financing for projects related to the country's extractives sector such as the Trans-Anatolian Gas Pipeline (TANAP) and the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP).

Based on the analysis of the project documentation, independent media reports, surveys and discussions with local civil society revealed that the Nenskra project represents the perfect example of a gender blind project, where the project sponsor fails to identify the negative social and gender impacts on the community, to protect women from disproportionately bearing the negative impacts and to ensure that women and men benefit equally from the project.

A majority of the local population protests against the construction of the Shuakhevi HPP for various reasons, including issues related to land and water “grabbing”, geological risks posed by construction works, employment
problems, etc.

The purpose of this study is to assess the project’s gender impacts on the affected population as well as to evaluate whether the project related documentation and construction process meets the requirements of international financial institutions.