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Article

26 May 2020

Author:
Human Rights Watch, BHRRC, ARTICLE 19 and others

CSOs’ joint letter recommends IFC ensures clients receiving COVID-19 response money prioritise job protection & worker safety

"Joint Letter to IFC Chief Executive Officer Re: Request for information and recommendations for protecting workers in response to Covid-19", 21 May 2020

... We welcome the IFC’s decision to provide US$8 billion financing in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and note that the IFC will disburse $2 billion to support existing clients in the infrastructure, manufacture, agriculture, and services industries and $6 billion through Financial Intermediaries (FIs) under four different programs. We also appreciate the IFC’s April interim advice on supporting workers, preventing and managing health risks of Covid-19 in the workplace, and childcare in the Covid-19 era.

We are writing to request information about the occupational health and safety and social protection measures implemented by current IFC clients and those who may receive new financing in response to the Covid-19 pandemic...

We are also writing to share recommendations for steps the IFC could take to help clients avoid, minimize, or revisit retrenchment decisions and to align with IFC Performance Standards and international labor and human rights standards. We strongly urge the IFC to build upon its interim advice with binding steps and monitoring to promote paid sick and family leave, job protection, employer-provided childcare and health care, occupational health and safety, and nondiscriminatory retrenchment...