Leveraging the Money

by Ulrich Mueller

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In this notebook Ulrich Mueller describes a strategy of the FoodFirst Information and Action Network to influence large mining operations that were causing various human rights abuses, by putting pressure on banks and other financial institutions that invest in those mines. The notebook provides a thorough analysis of the kinds of research and pressure tactics that can provide an important new source of leverage for communities that are trying to counter the damage that can be caused by huge corporate projects on or near their land. This tactic can be extended to cover a broad range of issues in which there is a need to pressure corporations, as it takes into account their crucial dependence on the globalized financial community to invest in their operations, and the growing sensitivity of that financial community to sociopolitical pressure.

This notebook explains how the FoodFirst Information and Action Network influenced financial institutions to promote better protections for human rights or to prevent projects that would lead to human rights violations. FIAN Germany used this tactic mainly in a campaign against violations of the right-to-food caused by large surface gold mines. The campaign cooperates closely with affected communities and local organizations. Together with these partners, FIAN investigates the human rights problems of specific mines. We then use a number of instruments to bring the findings to the attention of investors and the public: fact-finding mission reports, calls for urgent action among members, involving human rights bodies at the national and international level, media work, speaker tours, conferences and lobbying. This combination provides new leverage to influence financial institutions and mining companies. And this in turn helps affected communities to claim their rights under difficult circumstances.

We started to support mining-affected communities in 1995. The first contacts we had were with communities in Peru and Turkey. In some of these cases, German investors were involved in financing the mines. This gave us an opportunity to link human rights violations in other countries to actors in Germany. And it also proved to be an effective tool to put pressure on the mining companies. From that starting point, FIAN began using investor pressure as a primary tactic in its gold mining campaign. The tactic of directing campaigns toward financial institutions is not limited to mining.

As financial institutions are, more and more, a powerful economic force worldwide, this tactic could be used in a variety of ways in other cases of corporate abuse: Industry-wide campaigns are pressing financial institutions like banks or pension funds to withdraw support from specific industrial sectors or to pressure companies in that sector to adopt new standards or practices. Campaigns might also focus on an individual company or a specifically harmful project (like large infrastructure projects, dams, mines, etc.). In these cases, investors might be urged to withdraw their support from a specific project or to pressure the company to change their behavior. Additionally, campaigns might focus on financial market practices themselves and demand new investment rules and practices like ethical investment.

This notebook focuses on project-level campaigning, using the example of a gold-mining project in Ghana. It will start with background information on the human rights impacts of surface gold mining. The elements of the tactic will be explained and illustrated through the example. The second part will discuss what questions are important when using the tactic and how the tactic could be transferred.

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