WK 213 Leveraging the power of money

Money is a powerful agent for or against change. Following the money trail can provide ideas for how money can be leveraged to create change. Banks from national banking institutions to the World Bank as well as shareholders of financial institutions, have the power to withhold investment in corporate or government ventures that violate human rights or agreed mandates for operation.

Panelists

Featured Tactic: Uli Mueller, FoodFirst International Action Network, GermanyComplementary Presentations:

• David Schilling, Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, USA
• Carolina Fairstein, Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales (CELS) the ProHuerta Project case, Argentina

Featured Tactic

With a "right to food" framework, leveraging public investment bank decisions to change local company behavior Uli Mueller, FoodFirst International Action Network (FIAN), Germany

• View Uli Muller’s PowerPoint presentation 629 KB
• View Uli Muller’s presentation in PDF format
• Read Uli Muller’s presentation outline

FoodFirst Information and Action Network International (FIAN) uses a human-rights-based approach to confront investors with the negative effects of their investments in large gold mining companies. The goal is to either prevent investments in new mines or mitigate the impact of existing mines. FIAN targets mines that severely affect the livelihoods of communities near the mine and cause human rights violations and environmental destruction. Working in close cooperation with affected communities and local organizations, FIAN and its partners investigate the human rights problems of specific mines. FIAN then works with investors to solve the problem, finding viable solutions that will have a positive impact on the communities. The investor approach makes it harder for companies to go ahead with new mines that don’t respect affected communities and environmental issues, or can at least lead to stricter operating conditions. While this tactic has worked in specific cases, it has not resulted in the incorporation of human rights into the general policy of investors. When using this tactic, it is important to analyze the role of investors and lenders in the particular case or sector; the tactic works better in sectors that are capital-intensive. The tactic uses money as leverage to influence companies to change their behavior at the community level.

Complementary Presentation

David Schilling, Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, USA

• View David Schilling’s PowerPoint presentation 292 KB
• Read David Schilling’s presentation outline

Members of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), including 275 U.S. religious institutions, examine the social and environmental performance of the companies in which they invest. Rather than selling the stock of companies whose practices are harmful, ICCR uses their shares to pressure for change. As shareholders, ICCR members place resolutions on social issues such as human rights, access to health care and environmental responsibility on shareholder ballots. In many cases, these resolutions open the door for direct negotiations between religious investors and management.

Complementary Presentation

Carolina Fairstein, Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales (CELS) the ProHuerta Project case, Argentina

• View Carolina Fairstein’s PowerPoint presentation 73KB
• Read Carolina Fairstein’s presentation outline

As one condition of a World Bank Special Structural Adjustment Loan in 1998, the Argentine Government committed to maintaining budget allocations for a list of ongoing social programs. Beneficiaries of one of those listed social programs the Pro Huerta Program along with lawyers from CELS successfully used the World Bank Inspection Panel mechanism to pressure the Argentine government to reinstate money the government tried to remove from the project, threatening its continuity.