LONDON — The United Kingdom’s National Contact Point (NCP) for the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on Friday accepted complaints alleging that Barclays and HSBC (Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp.) violated OECD guidelines by maintaining financial ties to CoreCivic and GEO Group, two private prison operators accused of systemic human rights abuses, according to a press release from Worth Rises.
The complaints, filed by Worth Rises, BankTrack and the Coalition for Immigrant Freedom, claim Barclays and HSBC failed to prevent or mitigate human rights harms connected to their investments. The decision follows a similar move by Switzerland’s NCP in August 2024 to accept a complaint against UBS (Universal Bank Switzerland), reflecting increasing international scrutiny of financial institutions involved in the U.S. private prison industry, Worth Rises stated.
“The OECD Guidelines create clear obligations for banks to ensure their investments do not contribute to human rights abuses like those regularly and conspicuously inflicted by CoreCivic and GEO Group,” Worth Rises Executive Director Bianca Tylek said in the release. “Through both active and passive investments in these corporations, Barclays, HSBC and UBS have failed to meet these obligations for far too long. That ends now.”
CoreCivic and GEO Group, which profit heavily from U.S. immigration enforcement, have long faced allegations of violence and forced labor, the release noted.
The groups emphasized that immigrants and asylum seekers are frequently held in these facilities under abusive conditions. Many detainees are forced to work for as little as $1 a day under threats of solitary confinement or deprivation of basic needs, according to Worth Rises.
Christine L. Mendoza, executive director of the Coalition for Immigrant Freedom, said in the release, “Accepting these complaints is a significant step in holding financial institutions accountable for their investments in entities that violate human rights. We urge the banks to recognize their responsibility to ensure their passive investments do not contribute to the abuses of immigrants that have been occurring in private prisons.”
The release explained that Barclays, HSBC and UBS collectively hold tens of thousands, sometimes hundreds of thousands of shares in CoreCivic and GEO Group, often through index funds.
While some banks have stopped lending to private prison companies, few have extended divestment to passive investments, Worth Rises stated. The OECD Guidelines, as interpreted by NCPs in the U.K. and Switzerland, increasingly view passive investments as creating a “business relationship,” obligating banks to address human rights harms linked to their portfolios.
In the release, Ryan Brightwell, banks and human rights lead at BankTrack, said, “Banks can’t keep tolerating human rights abuses on their books without taking action. The abuse in the U.S. private prisons business is well-known and persistent; something these banks don’t deny. We want to see them take their responsibilities seriously, and we’re looking forward to a mediation process that helps deliver action on these responsibilities.”
According to Worth Rises, the NCP decision moves the case into mediation, where banks will be asked to identify ways to mitigate human rights harms tied to their investments. If mediation fails, the NCPs will issue a final determination on whether the banks violated OECD Guidelines.
Tylek added in the release, “We are grateful to the U.K. and Swiss OECD NCPs for agreeing that these complaints merit further examination after a thoughtful preliminary investigation. We look forward to engaging in mediations with the banks to address the harm done and ensure it is mitigated in the future.”
The release argued that the decision could set a precedent for financial institutions to expand human rights due diligence to include passive investments. Advocates believe the case highlights how banks profit from U.S. immigration policies, particularly under the Trump administration’s expansion of private detention contracts, which generate billions for CoreCivic and GEO Group.
Worth Rises emphasized that more than 90 percent of people in ICE custody are held in private prison facilities, illustrating the systemic nature of the abuses connected to these investments.
