This paper aims to 1) overview chronological revisions of the Accountability Mechanism of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and 2) find out to what extent eligible complaints had been addressed in its Safeguard Policy Statement.

The ADB is now (as of August 2024) proceeding with the revision of their Safeguard Policy Statement, which has been in effect since 2009; the Accountability Mechanism is also under external review. Some previous studies point out problems such as placing priority on Board roles and less effort to talk with stakeholders. This paper examines the extent to which issues recognized by Project-Affected Persons (PAPs), third-party reviewers, and the ADB in the objection system have been reflected in the institutional and policy revisions by analyzing the 12 eligible cases in total and all of the three revisions of compliance review mechanisms.

In conclusion, the problems recognized by Project-Affected Persons, third-party reviewers, and the ADB have been repeatedly documented; the impact of the Compliance Review Panel’s decisions on policy operations has been curtailed with each revision; and although the organization was subdivided with each revision, the “adversarial nature” continues to be an issue.