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Publish What You Pay 

Email Update September 7th 2011
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Piping Profits - a report 

In the upcoming report Piping Profits, PWYP Norway seeks to unravel “some of the most sophisticated, complicated and opaque structures created by corporate accountants and lawyers working for the world’s biggest energy companies.” The report traces and locates the subsidiaries of ten of the world’s biggest extractive companies as well as three leading energy companies in Norway. Piping Profits,  to be released in mid-September, will disclose  - among other revelations - how many extractive company subsidiaries lie in secrecy jurisdictions and which extractive company is the most opaque.


Zimbabwe to launch the Zimbabwe Mining Revenue Transparency Initiative

On Monday 12th September, the Zimbabwean government will announce the launch of the Zimbabwe Mining Revenue Transparency Initiative. The  key goals stated for this initiative are to :

create a  participative and multi-stakeholder process for addressing mining sector issues providing concrete recommendations to national policymakers for decisions and action;

generate  independently-reconciled information for public dissemination setting out all significant mining-sector revenues flows paid by the industry and received by government; and

create a platform for ongoing policy reforms designed to achieve good governance of the nation’s mineral resources and promote investment for the benefit of the country.

While sharing principles similar to the EITI, the ZMRT is currently designed to be implemented as a wholly Zimbabwean initiative. The multi-stake holder group will involve the key agencies of GoZ and the key actors from the mining industry and a selected number of civil society entities and other observers.  A workshop will be held on September 8th to ensure an understanding of the aims of ZMRT, and to explore how participants will engage with one another in future.

This initiative is a response to work by Zimbabwean civil society in promoting transparency and accountability in Zimbabwe’s mining sector. These efforts will go from strength to strength as ZELA launched the PWYP chapter in Zimbabwe last Friday. 

Click here to visit the webpage of PWYP-Zimbabwe. 

Bantay Kita: A growing movement of civil society unites to monitor mining in the Philippines.



On August 4th 2011, the Bantay Kita coalition hosted its first ever national conference to unite civil society activists engaged in mining advocacy in the Philippines. The conference brought together more than 70 participants, including many representatives from communities directly affected by the adverse impacts of mining.

Bantay Kita (meaning “to watch over” “you / earnings”) is a national coalition that was set up in 2009 to advocate for greater transparency in the Philippines’ extractive industries. The national conference followed an 18-month period of scoping and research, to ascertain the current situation pertaining to transparency within the Filipino mining sector (gaps, obstacles and opportunities).

This field-based study, which included focus-groups and key-informant interviews with a number of stakeholders, concluded that there is a serious lack of transparency in the industry currently – whereby even local governments have difficulty accessing information about the contracts that have been entered into with mining ventures (thus depriving them of the ability to maximize local gains from the industry). The critical processes for securing local consent have too often been manipulated and have led to increased opposition to mining operations, to social division and to conflict.

The principal objective of the conference was to present the initial findings of the research, and to strategize as civil society collectively for future advocacy on extractive industry transparency. The final report will be publicly launched soon – so watch this space!

For more information, visit: www.bantaykita.com

Timor-Leste’s Transparency Model: Moving beyond the EITI?



The Timor-Leste Transparency Model (TLTM), recently launched by the Government of Timor-Leste, represents an attempt to ‘integrate’ transparency beyond the current narrow framework of the EITI.
Billed as a means to ‘support best practice natural resource management’ along the extractive industry value chain, the TLTM identifies five pillars for ensuring fiscal accountability – from the point of extraction to the time of investment and procurement for social service delivery.
 
The TLTM was officially launched at an Asia-Pacific regional conference in Dili (25-26th August 2011). One of the conference highlights was the launch of Timor-Leste’s e-Procurement Portal, which aims to ensure improved expenditure management, and increased accountability and transparency in government procurement.
 
However, whilst there is no question that the TLTM represents an innovation for the EITI internationally, national civil society groups still hold reservations as to whether the Government’s assurances will lead to more accountable public procurement processes – especially for local citizens. Few of Timor-Leste’s predominantly rural population have access to the internet (estimated at less than 0.1% in 2010), while illiteracy still remains high at 50%. There is a strong sentiment amongst Timorese civil society that efforts should focus on ensuring transparency is locally accessible – for example, via public education and outreach – if it is to translate to genuine accountability to the people who matter most.
 

China digs in across conflict-ridden Burma to access oil and gas

The Shwe Gas Movement has released a report revealing the extent to which China has advanced construction of a trans-Burma oil and gas pipelines project, despite raging conflict and associated abuses.
The new Sold Out report details the expanding construction of a deep sea port, gas terminal, and oil transfer point in Burma’s western Arakan State as well as the laying of nearly 800 kilometres of pipes. Dual pipelines will pump Burma’s world class natural gas reserves (as well as oil from the Middle East and Africa) across the country to feed China’s energy needs.

The China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and companies from Korea and Burma are speeding ahead with construction despite outbreaks of armed conflict near the pipeline route. The Burma Army launched offensives to clear ethnic resistance forces out of resource-rich areas in northern Kachin and Shan states. Since March 2011, the battles have left an estimated 50,000 people newly displaced.
If used domestically, the natural gas would transform Burma’s failing economy, addressing chronic energy shortages and unaffordable petrol prices that led to uprisings in 2007. Instead, the gas will be exported and revenues from the sale of the gas – estimated at US$29 billion – will be swallowed up by a fiscal black hole that omits gas revenues from the national budget.

“These natural gas reserves could transform Burma’s economy” said Wong Aung of the Shwe Gas Movement. “Instead the regime is selling out our economic future to China.”

Click here to read the report

Community forces mining company to halt exploration

A mining company has had to suspend prospecting in the Mrimi hills in Kwale County, Kenya, following protests from a local community. Cortec Mining Kenya, a South African company incorporated in Kenya and Canadian Pacific Wildcat, were searching for high grade niobium and rare earth metals. However, the provincial administration was not contacted about the exploration activities, leading to resistance from local residents. Community members concerned about the potential environmental impacts of exploration marched to the site en masse to demand an end to the exploration. It was at a stakeholder meeting at the Mamba Methodist church that the company agreed to halt all activities until full consultations had been carried out. The license will only be granted once the Environmental Impact Assessment is done.

This event happens as Kenyan media announce the country is on the verge of a mineral boom. The government has been inviting multinationals to explore in areas where high mineral potential was suspected. Commercially viable deposits of gold have been confirmed in Migori, Rongo and Nyatika and that west Kenya has up to 20 million tonnes of iron deposits. 

RDC – L’ASADHO condamne une justice à double vitesse

En RD Congo, L’Association Africaine de défense des Droits de l’Homme, ASADHO a publié un communiqué condamnant ‘une justice à double vitesse’ en ce qui concerne l’exploitation ou le commerce illégale des ressources naturelles.  Un chauffeur de MONUSC a récemment été condamné, avec son complice,  à trois ans de prison ferme pour avoir tenté de trafiquer 1200 kg de casserite vers le Rwanda. En février 2011 un avion Gulfstream V immatriculé aux Etats-Unis est immobilisé avec plus de 400kg d’or et plus d’un million de dollars américains. Hors à cette occasion les passagers reçoivent comme punition une amende et aucune privation de liberté.

L’ASADHO appelle à « une justice équitable et impartiale pour tous ceux qui sont arrêtés  pour l’exploitation et ou commerce illégal des ressources naturelles de la République Démocratique du Congo. » Vous pouvez lire le communiqué entier ici

Nouveau code minier pour la Guinée



Conakry- Le 1 et 2 septembre les membres de la coalition PCQVP Guinéenne ont tenu un atelier examinant le nouveau code minier soumis au Conseil National de Transition et évaluant la prise en compte des recommandations de la société civile dans la création de celui-ci.

C’était le 31 aout que le ministre des mines, Mahmoud Thiam,  a présenté au CNT ce nouveau code, une révision du code de 1995 couramment en vigueur. Le code minier tente établir une gestion plus transparente des ressources naturelles.

En effet le communiqué issu de l’atelier de la société civile note que cette dernière  a bien été consultée  au long du processus de la création du code et constate que le projet   « reprend le code de 1995, le développe, l’actualise et le complète de dispositions garantissant une gestion transparente et responsable  de l’exploitation minière. »
Par contre, la coalition PCQVP Guinéenne soulève aussi les absences du code, par exemple «l’absence de clarté sur la mise en place et la gestion du fonds pour le développement local » ou bien « l’absence d’une disposition explicite affirmant  l‘impérieuse nécessité d’une révision juste et équitable des contrats et conventions miniers passés mais pour  certains  négociés en cachette et signés à la sauvette. » La coalition offre ses recommandations, comme la publication d’un texte « indiquant la nature et le pourcentage des impôts, taxes et redevances affectés aux collectivités locales concernées par l’exploitation minière. » Elle appelle au gouvernement de prendre les recommandations en compte et de promulguer ce code en loi nationale. 

Lisez le communiqué en entier ici

Cameroun: La société civile evalue sa participation dans la mise en oeuvre de l'ITIE


 

Yaoundé Du 30 août au 2 septembre la coalition camerounaise a tenu un atelier stratégique pour évaluer la participation de la société civile dans la mise en œuvre de l’ITIE au Cameroun.

En effet, le Cameroun n’a pas encore atteint le statut de pays conforme, bien que sa candidature ait été acceptée à l’ITIE en 2007. A priori les pays candidats de l’ITIE sont supposés devenir conformes dans un délai de deux ans après avoir obtenu le statut de pays candidat. Pour le Cameroun le conseil d’administration de l’ITIE a rallongé ce délai à plusieurs occasions, lui conférant en décembre 2010 le statut de pays ‘proche de la conformité’.

Cet atelier a voulu examiner  et remédier les raisons derrières ce manque de conformité. Les travaux se sont donc penchés sur plusieurs thèmes y compris entre autres le partage de  bonnes pratiques de la mise en œuvre de l’ITIE en Afrique  (Liberia, Niger et de la RCA) et  l’analyse des rapports de conciliation des chiffres et des volumes. Les membres de l’atelier ont identifié les faiblesses de la mise en œuvre de l’ITIE au Cameroun, ses forces et les actions nécessaires pour conduire à ce que le Cameroun atteint le statut de pays conforme.  Le communiqué issu de cet atelier et qui contient ces recommandations sera publié le vendredi 9 septembre.