human rights

Azerbaijan political prisoners list published with report's authors on it

August 19, 2014

London -- Human rights activists in Azerbaijan published yesterday a list of 98 people who are currently political prisoners in the country run by the authoritarian regime of Ilham Aliyev. Ironically, the list includes the names of two of its authors, prominent rights activists Rasul Jafarov and Leyla Yunus, who were arrested under false charges earlier this month while they were working on the report.

Institution: EBRD

Theme: Energy & climate, Social & economic impacts

Tags: Azerbaijan, Euro-Caspian Mega Pipeline, human rights, Ilham Aliyev, Leyla Yunus, political prisoners, Rasul Jafarov, TAP, Caucasus

The Euro-Caspian Mega Pipeline - another 'Blair rich project'

Bankwatch Mail | August 8, 2014

The hiring of former British prime minister Tony Blair to advise a BP-led consortium pushing forward with plans to pump Caspian gas from Azerbaijan to Europe has bumped the 'Euro-Caspian Mega Pipeline' (ECMP) into western media coverage and lead to criticism of yet another unsavoury Blair consultancy.

Institution: EBRD

Theme: Energy & climate, Social & economic impacts

Human rights defenders clampdown in Azerbaijan - letter to Commissioner Fule asking to support civil society

Advocacy letter | July 18, 2014

The letter asks EU Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Stefan Fule to put pressure on the Azeri authorities and support and protect civil society that faces an escalating suppression. Last week more than 20 NGOs were confronted with sanctions that included freezing bank accounts and seizing personal accounts of NGO executives and others. This is a continuation of the government’s on-going harassment campaign against human rights defenders that uses tactics like police summons, arrests, propaganda, and slandering and threating organisations with closure.

Theme: Social & economic impacts

More repression, more money - Financing transition in Egypt

New cases of arbitrary repression against civil society happened in the run-up to the presidential elections in Egypt. A look at the loans so far approved by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development suggests that those in power have been more successful in receiving the bank’s support.

Tags: al-Sisi corruption democracy ECESR Egypt elections human rights military Morsi multinationals Muslim Brotherhood raid repression state-owned transition EU neighbourhood Southern Mediterranean

Institution: EBRD

Theme: Social & economic impacts

Statement on Russia's invasion of Ukraine and threat of war

April 29, 2014

CEE Bankwatch Network strongly condemns the Russian government's military invasion and annexation of Crimea and Sebastopol. We hope that in the end the voices of those who have been demonstrating for peace in Moscow and elsewhere, in both Russia and Ukraine, will prevail.

The European Union has already responded to the Crimean declaration of independence by announcing travel bans and bank account freezes for 48 individuals from Russia and Ukraine linked to the Crimean breakaway.

Institution: EBRD, EIB

Theme: Energy & climate

Tags: democracy, EBRD, EIB, energy, human rights, Russia, Ukraine, war

European Development Bank: Backward Step on Rights - Draft Policy Would Weaken Protection

March 5, 2014

(London) – The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s (EBRD) new draft Environment and Social Policy would fail to weed out abusive development projects, seven human rights and bank watchdog organizations said today in a joint statement. The bank’s consultation on the draft policy closes on March 5, 2014. It then has an opportunity to revise the policy before sending it to the bank’s board for approval in the coming months.

Institution: EBRD

Theme: Social & economic impacts

Tags: EBRD, human rights, Balkans, Caucasus, CEE, Central Asia, EU neighbourhood, Southern Mediterranean

The EIB's double standard for human rights in Ukraine and Egypt

While drawing concrete consequences from the violence that happened in Ukraine, the European Investment Bank seems to be unmindful of the ongoing human rights abuses and killings in Egypt.

Tags: Arab spring Egypt human rights MENA repression Werner Hoyer EU neighbourhood Southern Mediterranean

Institution: EIB

Theme: Social & economic impacts

Is Egypt just stuck in transition or heading away from democracy? Considerations for the EBRD

Six months after the Egyptian army deposed Egypt's first freely elected president, the weak democratic signals by the authorities are overshadowed by widespread repression. How can the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development possibly help under these circumstances? Or put differently: Will the limited benefits to the country's private sector from EBRD engagement really be enough to outweigh the harm done by the bank's support for an undemocratic regime?

Tags: Egypt human rights military privatisation repression transition EU neighbourhood Southern Mediterranean

Institution: EBRD

Theme: Social & economic impacts

Litmus test for EBRD rhetoric on democracy with Egyptian oil project

On December 18 the EBRD board of directors approved a loan of USD 50 million to finance a project aimed at the expansion of oil operations and reducing gas flaring in Egypt. Yet the tenuous political situation in the country continues to raise concerns about the bank’s ability to make a positive contribution towards the democratic process, and whether it should be investing there at all.

Tags: Arab spring democracy EBRD Egypt human rights MENA Morsi oil EU neighbourhood Southern Mediterranean

Institution: EBRD

Theme: Energy & climate, Social & economic impacts

[Campaign update] EBRD not digging for truth at the Kolubara mine, Serbia

By putting too much trust in its client EPS, the EBRD failed to notice that an important grievance mechanism for villagers near the mine was not in place - for two years. [*]

Tags: accountability communities human rights Kolubara lignite local impacts mining resettlement transparency Balkans EU neighbourhood