A/HRC/36/40 Worryingly, however, OECD has continued to endorse public-private partnerships, stating that “the government should consider expanding its remit to local public-private partnerships and water, sewage and waste sectors”.43 E. Reprisals 44. Although development banks increasingly acknowledge the importance of public participation for effective development, a growing number of governments have embarked upon broad and sometimes brutal campaigns to shut down the space for civil society activity, in some cases going so far as to criminalize independent human rights work. 44 Those abusive measures exclude people from participating in decision-making, from publicly opposing development projects that may harm their livelihoods, and from complaining about initiatives that are ineffective. 45. In its response to the questionnaire sent by the Independent Expert, 45 Human Rights Watch noted that international financial institutions have done little to prevent reprisals against critics of projects that they finance. A 2015 Human Rights Watch report on reprisals against critics of World Bank Group projects describes how people in Cambodia, India, Uganda, Uzbekistan and elsewhere have faced reprisals from governments and powerful companies in connection with their critique of Bank projects. 46 46. An Uzbek human rights defender, in exile after raising the issue of forced labour in projects benefiting his Government’s cotton sector, stated, “the World Bank has not taken any meaningful measures to ensure that independent human rights defenders like me can monitor for abuses linked to the projects they fund. Nor have Bank staff spoken out against the government’s attacks on my colleagues and me”.47 The defender, whose case was raised with the Government of Uzbekistan by special procedure mandate holders, was allegedly detained and ill-treated in connection with his monitoring of the sector, 48 although the Government denies that.49 47. Human Rights Watch further documents the fact that in Azerbaijan, although the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative 50 prevailed upon the Government to stop its crackdown on independent civil society, and despite the fact that the Bank endorsed that recommendation, project funding continued unabated. 51 48. In addition, reprisals are routinely inflicted by enterprises on indigenous and other persons who oppose land-grabbing and pollution. One of the most notorious cases, which has been regularly raised by the special procedure mandate holders, is that of Berta Cáceres, who was killed in March 2016.52 Two of those facing charges for her murder were employees of a company involved in the construction of the Agua Zarca dam, a project financed not by the Bank but by Dutch, Finnish and Central American banks. Although the Bank was not responsible for financing that project, it was hit by so much collateral outrage 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 www.oecd.org/eco/surveys/Portugal-2017-OECD-economic-survey-overview.pdf, p. 25. See www.hrw.org/news/2016/07/14/defending-human-rights-development. See www.hrw.org/news/2017/04/25/human-rights-watch-submission-re-international-financialinstitutions-and-human. Human Rights Watch, At Your Own Risk: Reprisals against Critics of World Bank Group Projects, (2015). Available from www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/worldbank0615_4up.pdf. See www.hrw.org/news/2016/07/14/defending-human-rights-development. See https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadPublicCommunicationFile? gId=19586. See https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadFile?gId=48790. See https://eiti.org/. Human Rights Watch, Harassed, Imprisoned, Exiled: Azerbaijan’s Continuing Crackdown on Government Critics, Lawyers, and Civil Society, (2016). Available from www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/azerbaijan1016_web.pdf. See www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=19805. See also public communications on the case, and government responses to them, available on the special procedures online communication database: https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/Tmsearch/TMDocuments. 11