Dear President Takehiko Nakao,
The Asian Development Bank has acknowledged the importance of participation, good governance, and accountability for development. As both human rights and development experts have noted, respect for human rights of freedom of expression, assembly, and association is crucial for achieving participatory, sustainable, and accountable development.
Unfortunately, in many ADB client countries, these rights are under attack. The organization Global Witness recently identified 2015 as the most dangerous year for killings of land and environmental defenders, while CIVICUS’ 2016 State of Civil Society report identified serious violations of the freedoms of association, expression and peaceful assembly in 109 countries over the course of 2015. In many countries, those who speak out about development activities may suffer threats or attacks by government or company officials. This environment of violence, intimidation, and closing civil society space renders meaningful public participation in development virtually impossible. It also significantly increases the risk that ADB-financed activities will contribute to or exacerbate human rights violations.
This issue was brought to the fore recently by attacks on human rights defenders documenting labor abuses in Uzbekistan’s agricultural sector. Over the last year, officials retaliated brutally against Dmitry Tikhonov, Elena Urlaeva, and other rights defenders for reporting about forced labor in the cotton sector. Police arrested, beat, and filed charges of “disorderly conduct” against Tikhonov on the same day that his home office was destroyed by arson, eventually forcing him to flee the country. Officials have arrested Urlaeva five times and subjected her to body-cavity searches twice. The ADB is investing in projects that benefit Uzbekistan’s cotton sector, but has not worked to support an environment in which people can speak freely about rights abuses linked to its investments without risk of reprisal.
Last week, 154 civil society organizations from around the world launched the attached statement on the “Responsibility of International Financial Institutions to ensure Meaningful and Effective Participation.” The statement lays out concrete ways the ADB and other development finance institutions can support an enabling environment for public participation and ensure that their activities do not cause or contribute to human rights violations. The statement is attached here and a live version together with case studies and supplemental information is available at www.rightsindevelopment.org/hrd.
We believe that the ADB has a responsibility to ensure that the activities it finances respect human rights and that there is space for people to participate in the development of ADB-financed activities and to hold the ADB to account without risking their security.
We know that the challenges of closing civil society space and threats to human rights defenders may be new to the ADB. However, as these challenges are growing more acute day by day, we urge you to devote the necessary resources to grapple with them in a serious and effective manner. We are eager to work with you and to bring the technical expertise of human rights institutions, human rights defender organizations, and other relevant experts to assist you in understanding these issues and identifying effective means to address them.
We therefore request the opportunity to meet with you at your earliest convenience. Please contact Jessica Evans for more information or for scheduling purposes.
Signed,
Jessica Evans, Human Rights Watch
Kristen Genovese, Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO)
Mary Lawlor, Front Line Defenders
Rayyan Hassan, NGO Forum on ADB
Liliana De Marco, Protection International
Cc: ADB Board of Executive Directors
Compliance Review Panel
Special Project Facilitator
