In this section, recent or ongoing campaigns and
alliances are reviewed to establish whether the
bank's primary interest is marketing benefit or
advancement of the issues, as it claims. Previous
reviews have included the bank's involvement with
Greenpeace, RSPB, Christian Aid, Amnesty
International (UK), Landmines, Fairtrade coffee, Third
World debt, Refugees, Climate Change and
Combating Financial Exclusion. This year, the
Cluster Bombs campaign and the Ethical Purchasing
Index will be reviewed. In both cases, engagement
has been extensive and varied. Both analyses have
been chosen and written by the auditor, ethics etc...,
who has interviewed experts from independent
organisations to provide assurance that the bank's
story as presented is balanced.
The provision of funding for ordnance
clearance operations undertaken by Landmine
Action in the Sudan, the Halo Trust in Nagorno
Karabakh and Mines Advisory Group (MAG) in
Cambodia, was a key element of the bank's
Cluster Bombs campaign, launched in
February 2002.