The human rights due diligence of the European Investment Bank. A case study in Kenya

Abstract

Human Rights Due Diligence (HRDD) has become an increasing trending topic in recent years. Recently, the European Union has drawn a framework for a mandatory due diligence at the European level. In the future the European Investment Bank will become more important as in response to the rapidly changing climate is and the wish of the Union to create sustainable development, the Bank will become the Europe’s Climate Bank and Europe’s Development Bank. Through its investments, the Bank can have a huge potential impact on the environmental and living conditions where their financed projects are carried out. Given that the Bank is a more neglected institution and its upcoming role, this dissertation will examine if and how the Bank carries out a HRDD. Guiding principle 17 stipulates business enterprises should carry out a HRDD in order to identify, prevent, mitigate and account for how they address their possible adverse human rights impacts. By looking at case studies in Kenya, reports by CSOs and the Bank itself, this research will also formulate recommendations for the Environmental and Social Framework which is currently under review. Issues about transparency and upcoming European directive on mandatory due diligence will be discussed as well. The research findings indicate that the Bank has trouble to be transparent, lacks budget and staff and is dependent on the information of the promoters they finance. This thesis can be a first step towards raising awareness around the EIB’s investments and its human rights impacts.