- Date filed
- 12 December 2022
- Keywords
- Countries of harm
- Current status
-
Under review
- Sector
- NCP
Allegations
On 12 December 2022, three NGOs – Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO), Equitable Cambodia (EC) and FIAN Germany – filed a complaint against Oikocredit at NCP Netherlands. Oikocredit is a global ‘social’ or ‘impact’ investor headquartered in the Netherlands. The complainants allege that Oikocredit has failed to conduct adequate due diligence on its investments in Cambodia’s microfinance sector since at least 2017, despite evidence of harms directly linked to those investments. They also claim that Oikocredit refused to engage safely with local stakeholders as part of its due diligence processes, despite repeated requests from local groups and concerns about reprisals.
In February 2022, LICADHO and EC filed complaints on behalf of affected borrowers against several of the microfinance institutions (MFIs) funded by Oikocredit at the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO) of the International Finance Corporation.
Outcome
On 15 September 2023, the Dutch NCP accepted the complaint and offered its good offices to the parties. Both parties accepted the offer.
On 19 March 2024, the parties published a joint statement on ‘Strong common ground and commitment to further steps in NCP dialogue relating to microfinance loans in Cambodia’. The parties met to discuss the issues during a dialogue on 13-15 March:
“During the dialogue, there was strong common ground between the parties in their commitment to improve the livelihoods of Cambodian borrowers. There was also a joint recognition of the urgent issues in the Cambodian microfinance sector and the need to take action to address them. The parties have identified and committed to concrete next steps towards a positive outcome of the dialogue.”
More details
- Defendant
- Company in violation
- Complainants
- Affected people