Study identifies flaws and calls for changes in one of the world’s largest development banks

Publish Date: 
Thursday, September 11, 2014

The report reveals that the lack of transparency at the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) prevents affected communities and wider society from monitoring the effectiveness of the tools the institution claims it has to ensure that its loans do not end up financing private business ventures that violate human rights in Brazil or abroad.
 
Moreover, it identifies weaknesses in the methods for preventing and mitigating socio-environmental impacts, in addition to a lack of direct dialogue with communities and a mechanism for receiving complaints and reports of human rights violations by the financed projects. The analyses and recommendations in the publication are based on research that involved direct questions posed to the bank and an analysis of official documents, financial statements, technical reports, court rulings, Freedom of Information requests, Brazilian legislation and international norms, as well as interviews with actors directly and indirectly associated with the actions of the bank.

In the 100-plus page report, Conectas lists the flaws and shortcomings of the bank’s internal governance and the institutional and regulatory framework that governs its lending to private companies. It makes recommendations for strengthening the bank’s internal policies and Brazilian legislation in order to prevent BNDES financing from going to companies and business projects that cause significant social impacts. It also proposes that interested parties should be able to participate actively in the design of impact mitigation measures during all the stages of a project.
 
More information here.
 

To download the report (in Portuguese), please click here.

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