Colleagues, friends, thank you for being with us today.

I am particularly grateful to Speaker Nancy Pelosi for joining us.

Speaker Pelosi’s vital work on transparency and accountability has left a deep imprint in this field. The more progress we make on remedy, the more we honour that legacy.

I am very grateful also to the President and CEO of Oxfam America, Abby Maxman, for our precious collaboration and for our partnership on today’s event.

The issue of remedy is deeply personal to me.

In 1973, when I was 22, a military dictatorship seized power in my home country, Chile. My father was an Army General of real integrity: he was detained and tortured almost daily, for months. He died of his torture. My mother and I were also detained for a number of weeks, and many of our friends were abducted, disappeared, killed. In 1975, I was forced to leave my country and become a refugee.

When I was 28, I was finally able to return to Chile, and I joined some of the organisations which were working to restore democracy to our country. I committed myself to the reconciliation process, to fact-finding and truth telling, to expanding spaces of dialogue so that injustices could be acknowledged and addressed.

As a physician, I worked with an organization that supported the social needs of children of parents who had been victims of the dictatorship. This experience demonstrated not only the intergenerational impact of human rights abuses, but also the power of reparations, which have helped survivors, families and communities heal and become part of wider society, with dignity.

Thankfully, the daily work of development does not commonly involve violations of human rights like those I have described. But sometimes it does: forced evictions, forced and child labour, and gender-based violence are among the more glaring examples. Attacks on environmental and human rights defenders are increasing. Bad policies can erode economic and social rights. New threats, like digital technology risks, are emerging.

Development finance institutions have long experience in enabling remedy in many contexts. The “do no harm” principle is central to their mandates. But for too many people affected by development projects, remedy remains out of reach.

Of course, development finance institutions are not, and cannot, be responsible for everything. Clients are responsible for project implementation, and States are the main authors and addressees of international human rights law. But all are bound to respect human rights, all should contribute in line with their own responsibilities, and all have roles to play in strengthening the remedy ecosystem.

Development finance institutions, and in particular the leading multilateral development banks, have consistently innovated and set new global standards on sustainability and accountability. Their leadership, and the power of their example, are needed now, more than ever, on the issue of remedy.

I hope that today’s event, and my Office’s publication Remedy in Development Finance, will contribute to a productive conversation on remedy, more consistent and effective practice, and above all, to real results in people’s lives.