The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has instituted an Independent Recourse Mechanism (IRM) “whereby local groups that may be directly and adversely affected by a Bank-financed project would be able to raise their complaints or grievances with an arm of the Bank that would be independent from project operations”
In a recent study, Bankwatch CEE found that the EBRD IRM does little to redress project affected communities. Drawing on eleven cases submitted to the IRM since its inception, the study revealed that procedural constraints make the mechanism practically toothless; and that the constraints contravene the principles of the international Aarhus Convention, which EBRD recognises.