Development Finance Institutions and Human Rights
27 April 2023
Development finance can have enormous leverage in helping achieve better human rights outcomes.
Read IHRB's submission to the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights on Development Finance Institutions and Human Rights.
What is development finance?
Development finance is broadly defined as the use of public resources to facilitate investment and development in low- and middle-income countries.
It is implemented by a range of entities from national and multilateral development banks to other state-backed financial mechanisms such as export credit agencies or sovereign wealth funds.
States have critical roles in overseeing this broad financial ecosystem. They can exercise direct control over some actors in ways that align with their own international human rights obligations, and adopt legislation and policy guidance that will influence the behaviours of private financial actors, including with respect to human rights and environmental due diligence.
Just Energy Transition Partnerships, or JETPs, happening in countries such as South Africa, India, Indonesia, Vietnam and Senegal, are one current opportunity to crowd-in finance to decarbonise countries while advancing development.
