A/79/317 economic development solely from a private sector perspective. Other development finance institutions have narrow policy commitments regarding social and environmental compliance that are often vague or aspirational and toothless. 13 The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank has one such vague commitment 14 that is betrayed in the context of the ongoing financing of projects with serious human rights violations, such as the Mandalika urban development and tourism initiative. 15 27. Standards and safeguards. While most development finance institutions have established environmental and social policies that outline specific requirements for project planning, design, implementation and performance, the alignment of the institutions’ safeguards with international human rights and responsible business conduct standards varies significantly. In recent years, there has been a trend towards increased alignment of certain safeguards with international human rights standards. 16 For instance, the European Investment Bank standard on resettlement appears to align with the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement of the United Nations, emphasizing that the Bank will not finance projects that infringe on rights or violate human rights standards and will not tolerate forced evictions. 17 However, such progress has often been undermined by increased competition among development finance institutions and pressure for rapid project financing and implementation. 28. Safeguards often include criteria for land acquisition, compensation and provisions for involuntary displacement and resettlement, usually requiring a resettlement action plan and/or a livelihood restoration plan. 18 However, in recent years, there has been a decline in safeguards regulating resettlement, notably with the removal of resettlement action plans as a prerequisite for project financing. If projects are approved without assessing whether resettlement can be avoided, and if there is insufficient consultation and planning to ensure compliance with human rights norms, the development finance institution and its project implementing partners may end up defending poor decisions instead of revising project designs. 29. Involuntary resettlement. Development finance institutions continue to authorize and fund involuntary resettlement where affected persons cannot refuse land acquisition or restrictions on land use. This often results in human rights violations and the impoverishment of affected communities. For example, the IFC performance standards address displacement and resettlement under performance standard 5 on land acquisition and involuntary resettlement. This standard acknowledges both physical displacement (e.g. relocation or loss of shelter) and economic displacement (e.g. loss of assets or livelihoods) resulting from project-related land acquisition or restrictions. 19 It has faced criticism for lacking criteria for independent assessments of whether a project is genuinely in the public interest before land expropriation. 20 __________________ 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 8/24 Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Benchmarking Study of Development Finance Institutions’ Safeguard Policies , February 2023. Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, Environmental and Social Framework , 2016, “Vision”, para. 13. See, for example, communications OTH 24/2021, OTH 17/2022, OTH 133/2022 and AL OTH 99/2023. OHCHR, Benchmarking Study of Development Finance Institutions’ Safeguard Policies . European Investment Bank, The EIB Group Environmental and Social Policy, 2022, paras. 3.2 and 4.5, and Environmental and Social Standards, 2022, standard 6, “Involuntary resettlement”, paras. 48–50 and footnotes 16 and 17. See, for example, International Finance Corporation (IFC), Handbook for Preparing a Resettlement Action Plan, 2002. Available at https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/ 492791468153884773/pdf/246740PUB0REPL020020Box12600PUBLIC0.pdf . IFC performance standard 5, 2012, “Introduction”. Available at www.ifc.org/content/dam/ifc/ doc/2010/2012-ifc-performance-standard-5-en.pdf. OHCHR, Benchmarking Study of Development Finance Institutions’ Safeguard Policies . 24-15075