Publish What You Pay 

Email Update September 21st 2011
 

 
   

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PWYP coalition launched in Madagascar!


On Tuesday 27 September, 27 civil society organisations launched a Publish What You Pay coalition in Madagascar. The coordinating organisation will be Transparency International Madagascar and the coalition will shortly set out a governance structure. You can view the declaration here (en français) . On 15 September, a workshop had taken place to increase Publish What You Pay Members’ engagement with the national EITI implementation process.  PWYP members criticized the government for being slow in publishing the payments it has received from companies. Madagascar was originally accepted as EITI candidate in February 2008. The EITI International Board agreed to grant Madagascar a further extension until 30 September 2011 to complete validation.
 

Madagascar's mineral exploitation is set to increase in the coming years and oil exploration, both onshore and offshore, is already underway.  

First Publish What You Pay member in Korea! 



On 6 October 2011 the Korea University International Human Rights Clinic officially became the first PWYP member in Korea. They have been active in the fight for transparency in the extractive sector for some time. Indeed, last April the South Korean assembly debated legislation - modelled on Dodd-Frank 1504 - to introduce financial mandatory reporting measures. 

They have recently written an article on part of their campaign. The opening paragraphs are below, you can read the rest here. 

Korean PWYP's enemy is not opposition but apathy
 

In March 2011 in Korea, Assembly member Cho, Seung Soo(New Progressive Party) submitted a bill amending the Overseas Resource and Development Business Act. Through the 2009 National Audit Report 09-01 (published by the Energy and Climate Policy Institute for Just Transition(ECPI)), he had researched the problems of Korean extractors’ overseas projects and made suggestions for improvement.

The International Human Rights Clinic at Korea University Law School, while working on a corporate responsibility campaign for the Shwe Gas Project in Burma, worked with Assemblyman Cho, in drafting the bill, using the Dodd-Frank Act of the U.S. as a model.

Assemblée Générale de l’ONU - Le Président du Niger soulève l’importance des ressources naturelles 


Dans son discours devant la 66eme assemblée générale de l’ONU à New York, le président du Niger Mahamadou Issoufou a affirmé  l’importance de la transparence dans la gestion des ressources naturelles :

 « Le drame des sécheresses récurrentes que vit le Niger justifie à lui seul notre décision de restructurer notre économie. Notre pays dispose d’importantes ressources du sous-sol : uranium, or, charbon, ciment, déjà en exploitation et pétrole dont le premier baril sera produit avant la fin de l’année. Alors qu’elle est cause de malédiction ailleurs, l’exploitation de ces ressources se fera au seul profit du peuple Nigérien. Notre adhésion à L’Initiative pour la Transparence des Industries Extractives (ITIE) confirme notre volonté d’en investir les recettes au seul profit du peuple Nigérien, notamment dans l’agriculture et l’élevage, dans les infrastructures énergétiques et de transport, dans l’éducation, la santé et l’accès à l’eau. »

Autres nouvelles du Niger…. -         

La coalition ROTAB/PCQVP a écrit au ministre des finances demandant le payement des 15% des revenus miniers et pétroliers aux communes d’exploitation. En effet la distribution de ces 15% sont prévus dans la loi minière de 2006, mais à ce jour les communes concernées n’ont pas encore reçues les revenus de 2009 ou 2010.  Vous pouvez voir la lettre ici (1/2) et ici (2/2) (jpeg). 
 

President of Niger emphasises role of natural resources in address to the UN General Assembly



In his address to the UN General Assembly, President Mahamadou Issoufou of Niger highlighted the importance of natural resources to the development of his country.

“The tragedy of Niger’s recurring droughts alone justifies our decision to restructure the economy. Our country possesses vast natural resources: uranium, gold, coal and cement are already being exploited and the first barrel of oil will be produced by the end of the year. While elsewhere it may be a curse, the exploitation of these resources will be only to the profit of the people of Niger. Our membership of the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI) confirms our willingness to invest the revenues to the benefit of the people of Niger, specifically in agriculture and livestock farming, in energy and transport infrastructure, in education, in health and in access to water.”

More news from Niger…

-          Niger’s mining code of 2006 states that communities affected by extractive activity will receive 15% of the revenues the industry generates. To date the communities have not received their shares for 2009 or 2010. The ROTAB/PWYP coalition in Niger wrote to the ministry of finance to highlight this issue and demand that the allocated revenue be paid. 

 

You can read the letter (french) here (1/2) and here (2/2). (jpeg)

UK Coalition takes PWYP messages to Party Conferences

The UK coalition have been busy lobbying MPs, MEPs and government advisers at the annual Liberal Democrat, Labour and Conservative Party Conferences over the last three weeks.  With the European Commission proposals for country-by-country reporting expected at the end of the month, the Conferences provided a great opportunity to brief politicians and to win their support before the rules are debated by the European Parliament and Council of Ministers.
 
Highlights include strong support from UK Business Minister, Ed Davey MP, at the Liberal Democrat Conference for EU rules – he told delegates that he “hoped the EU will be able to implement [regulations] in a wider and broader way than America and that by doing so, would set the gold standard of how transparency can operate”.  Senior Conservative politicians gathered for a breakfast meeting to discuss the upcoming EU rules and International Development Minister Stephen O’Brien raised the progress the EU is making on rules at a meeting on big business and development. 
 
At the Labour Party Conference, Shadow Secretary of State for International Development, Harriet Harman MP, gave her strong backing for improving transparency in the extractive industries, saying “Africa has huge reserves of oil, gold, iron, diamonds. The biggest companies make billions of profit. They must publish what they get in profits from each country and what they pay in taxes to each country.”

 

La RDC évalue son sa mise en œuvre de l’ITIE

Le 15 et 16 septembre un atelier d’évaluation de l’ITIE en RDC a été tenu pour établir les responsabilités des parties prenantes dans la non-conformité de la RDC, acceptée comme pays candidat à l’ITIE en 2007.

En effet le rapport de 2008-2009 aurait dû être remis le 12 juin 2011 mais ne l’a pas été fait. Cette date d’échéance ratée, le conseil d’administration a donné au pays jusqu’au 1er mars 2013 pour devenir conforme. En effet, depuis le 30 septembre la RDC a repris son processus de validation, retournant au statut de candidat plutôt que de pays proche de conforme. Ce  processus conformera aux nouvelles règles de l’ITIE.

La société civile a soulevé plusieurs éléments par rapport à la non-conformité de la RDC : notamment la non implication des membres du gouvernement, la mauvaise gestion des immobilisations par le Secrétariat Technique, le manque des réunions régulières et le non suivi des activités du Secrétariat Technique.

Alors où en sommes-nous maintenant ? Le  21 septembre 2011, le comité s’est réuni et a adopté un nouveau plan de travail pour les prochains 18 mois. Un intérimaire sera embauché dans l’attente de la désignation d’un nouveau coordinateur national. 

Norwegian finance minister announces a public hearing on country-by-country reporting


Norway’s finance minister, Roger Schjerva, has announced that there will be a public hearing on proposals for country-by-country reporting. Schjerva stated that Norway favoured common European rules for country-by-country reporting and will be keeping a close eye on developments at the EU level. Country-by-country reporting features in Norway’s Action Plan against economic crime launched last March. It was also mentioned recently as part of their commitments as a member of the Open Government Partnership.

Schjerva was speaking at the launch of PWYP Norway’s report, Piping Profits. This report tracked and located the subsidiaries of some of the world’s most powerful extractive companies, revealing the extent to which these depend on secrecy jurisdictions. PWYP Norway proposes country by country reporting as a policy tool to increase transparency and counter the detrimental effects of secrecy jurisdictions. 

Eurasia Regional EI Transparency Network

On 10-11 October the Eurasia EI transparency network will be meeting in Tirana, Albania, for its seventh regional meeting. This meeting will be the biggest yet, gathering civil society representatives from Afghanistan, Albania, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Tajikistan and Ukraine.

The EITI was brought to several countries in the Central Asia and Caucasus region in the same period and some of the EITI coalitions there are already 5 years old. A similar socio-economic and political atmosphere in these countries was reflected in coalitions’ activities and in EITI implementation strategies in general.

With the development of these coalitions and the growing thirst to promote extractive industry transparency amongst other countries in the wider ‘Eurasia’ region (from Albania to Afghanistan), there has been an increasing desire to establish effective communication links between coalitions within the region and other international partners. Annual regional EITI meetings were planned as a platform for coalition activists to share learning and exchange experiences. This upcoming meeting in Tirana will be the network’s 7th annual meeting.