Human rights

Several Finnfund target countries have widely known problems in human rights matters. Finnfund upholds human rights as enshrined in their international proclamations ¹⁾ and seeks, through its own operations and participation, to advance the realisation of human rights in the projects it funds with the means at its disposal.

The human rights perspective is embedded in Finnfund’s Environmental and Social Policy, and it also endorses the Principles for Responsible Finance of the European Development Finance Institutions (EDFI). In human rights questions Finnfund’s Environmental and Social Policy tracks the UN Global Compact, the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights ²⁾ and the fundamental principles of the ILO. Finnfund does not finance enterprises and projects with human rights violations that cannot be prevented or corrected.

The examination of human rights aspects is a central part of Finnfund’s financing process. The human rights dimensions of potential projects are defined at an early stage of project preparation during the project’s environmental and social responsibility assessment.

Projects financed by Finnfund observe the environmental and social performance standards ³⁾ of the IFC (International Finance Corporation), part of the World Bank Group. It is a prior condition of Finnfund financing that the recipient makes a contractual commitment to observe these standards.

Finnfund steadily develops its own human rights tools and arranges the necessary training for its employees.

 ^{1) International Bill of Human Rights ja ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work
2) Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights
3) Performance Standards, PS}