The Complaints Mechanism is supported by an Independent Expert Panel, which decides on the admissibility of a complaint and handles all subsequent processes.
The Panel is formed of three international specialists with expertise and experience in mediation, social and environmental issues, as well as in supporting complaints mechanisms.
Seynabou Benga brings over 25 years of extensive and diverse experience in human rights, international law, and sustainable development to the panel. She has served in judicial and expert roles, including as Associate Justice at the French National Court of Asylum and as Legal Advisor at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. She also served as Expert Member of the Working Group on Extractive Industries, Environment, and Human Rights Violations in Africa at the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
She is currently the Director of Human Dignity, an NGO advancing economic, social, cultural, and environmental rights in sub-Saharan Africa. She is also a university lecturer and expert trainer in international human rights law.
Her work combines legal expertise, in-country experience, and consultancy, focusing on promoting accountability, strengthening respect for human rights, and advocating for a human rights–based approach to development. She has worked with leading NGOs, international organizations, and United Nations agencies.
Mark Goldsmith, formerly Chair of the World Bank Inspection Panel, brings over 25 years of leadership across financial services, development, consulting and energy, with deep experience managing complex environmental, social, governance, sustainability, safety and risk issues in both emerging and developed markets. Before founding his sustainability consultancy FiveOak in 2015, he spent more than a decade as Director of Responsible Investment at Actis, where he helped shape ESG standards in emerging markets, and later served as a non-executive director of Cameroon’s power utility ENEO, chairing its ESG board subcommittee. His work has included developing IFC Performance Standards training for British International Investment and advising East African private equity funds on ESG integration. He holds a bachelor’s degree in manufacturing engineering from the University of Nottingham and a distinction-level master in environmental pollution control from the University of Leeds.
Marina d’Engelbronner-Kolff is an international lawyer with a Ph.D. in dispute resolution and 30 years of global experience in sustainability at both strategic and operational levels within corporate and consulting sectors. She has held key roles in a human rights NGO, research institutions, a multinational company, and various consultancies, working across Europe, Africa, Asia, and Latin America. As a former Partner for Human Rights & Social Performance at ERM, she led major initiatives in human rights and social sustainability. Marina has managed complex sustainability issues for significant projects in sectors such as renewable energy, agriculture, and infrastructure. Her work emphasizes land acquisition, resettlement, the rights of indigenous peoples, labor rights, social value creation, and just transitions. Additionally, she collaborates extensively with local communities and civil society, fostering impactful and sustainable change worldwide.