Episode 10 - The Human Rights Cost Of 'Finance In Common'

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Rights on the Line

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This is a special episode, produced by the Coalition for Human Rights in Development. in collaboration with Front Line Defenders. Ahead of the upcoming Finance in Common Summit in Paris, we speak with defenders in Kenya, Guatemala and India, about the human rights impact of projects imposed in the name of development From the 9th to the 12th of November, all public development banks in the world will be together for the first time ever. Over 450 finance institutions and heads of governments will meet to discuss their response to global challenges such as climate change and the Covid-19 pandemic. Under the flag of "sustainable development", these banks often present themselves as the world's saviours. But their investments come at a high price. Activities they finance have been linked to thousands of human rights violations. Human rights defenders who oppose harmful projects are being accused of being “anti-development” and they are being threatened, attacked and killed. Indigenous Peoples are seeing their territories being pillaged. Rural communities are being forcibly evicted. Yet, despite growing evidence about these abuses, human rights are not even mentioned in the Finance in Common summit agenda and are glossed over in the proposed joint declaration that all banks will sign at the end of the event. Once again, the voices of human rights defenders and local communities are being completely ignored.