Definition
Any detrimental act — direct or indirect — recommended, threatened, or taken against an individual, family, community, or social group. For example, a complainant could face retaliation for submitting a query/concern/complaint to a grievance mechanism. In this case, retaliation could include, but would not be limited to, harassment, discriminatory treatment, or the withholding of an entitlement intended to silence or prevent the complainant from either filing a submission or taking any further action through the grievance mechanism.
Source(s)
Adapted from Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), "Enhancing AIIB's Accountability: The Project-Affected People's Mechanism," 2018, View the PDF.