In mid-April 2020, the members of the Defenders in Development Campaign, a broad-based coalition of community activists, defender organizations and accountability groups around the world who have come together to address the increasing danger facing those who defend their rights in the context of development activities and investments, sent a letter to all multilateral development banks, stating it was critical that the efforts they have made to support developing economies in this moment of crisis pay particular attention to and accommodate the individuals most vulnerable to abuses associated with development finance. The letter insisted that the current COVID-19 context requires concrete precautionary measures as the campaign members have seen increased reprisal risks, including defenders in lockdown being easier to find and target, arbitrary arrest and detention of defenders under the pretext of violation of lockdown rules, increased stigmatisation of marginalised groups as contributing to the spread of COVID-19, suspended courts resulting in limited legal recourse, and closed-door hearings resulting in loss of transparency, etc. 

The letter recommended that any adaptation of approaches towards human rights defenders should, at a minimum, involve assessment and ongoing monitoring of the implications of the current situation in terms of reprisal risks and reprisals and propose measures to mitigate those risks (in line with the recommendations below). 

Specifically, the campaign letter recommended that the banks should:

1. Reach out using secure channels to groups at higher risk of reprisals (more vulnerable impacted communities or more vulnerable members of those communities)
2. Evaluate the availability of secure channels in contexts where investments are underway, including, potentially, engaging with social media firms to understand any “backdoor” access governments may have to activists’ accounts
3. Ensure information on investments is reaching impacted groups, allowing them the opportunity to engage with the bank in a safe way
4. Screen for abuses taking place around the sectors financed (eg. targeting of bloggers/journalists reporting on health sector response to COVID-19, when financing health sector)
5. Actively monitor and send out, as part of any message to clients/promoters about the COVID-19 situation, a reminder that your bank will not tolerate reprisals, especially given the potentially increased reprisal risk
6. Clarify to all borrowers that the use of assistance funds and other finance spent in the COVID-19 response shall not be used to intimidatingly surveil communities

So far, two banks - European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the European Investment Bank (EIB) - have reached out to the campaign members with written responses, while several others have shown willingness to discuss this issue on the phone. EBRD's and EIB's responses are available below.