Publish What You Pay 

Telling the truth about the EITI: PWYP competition

The EITI aspires to “make natural resources work for people”, by improving governance, building trust, and empowering the citizens of resource-rich countries. But ten years on, are those citizens of the EITI implementing countries really feeling the effects? Is the EITI helping or hurting? We want to hear your views. If you have a story to tell about the impact (or not) of the EITI in your country, please write in (apowell@publishwhatyoupay.org) and tell us. The stories will be featured on our website in the coming weeks, and the winner (and prize!) will be announced early in the New Year.

(p.s The idea for this competition came after we read Is the EITI helping or hurting Azerbaijan's civil society? on the open oil blog)
 

Increasing attacks on PWYP activists

Over the past few months there has been an upsurge of threats and attacks against PWYP activists in African countries, particularly in Equatorial Guinea and in the Central African Republic.

The PWYP Africa Steering Committee has issued a press release strongly condemning these attacks and calling on African governments to allow civil society actors to ‘play their fundamental democratic roles unhindered’.

On 1^st November 2011, PWYP member Mr. Marcial Abaga was arrested in Equatorial Guinea. It was only 12 hours after his arrest that he was given the charges: he was accused of killing the president’s cook. No such incident had been reported and both EG justice and HRW have dismissed this charge as ‘implausible’. Abaga was later released on 4 November. As well as campaigning for Publish What You Pay, Abaga is the representative of the main opposition on the national electoral body. He had been campaigning against the constitutional changes proposed in the 14 November referendum, which activists argue will allow President Obiang to hand pick his successor.  President Obiang has since won the referendum with 99.4% of the vote.

In September 2011 activists were arrested in the Central African Republic on their way to raise awareness among local communities about the impact of uranium exploitation.

You can read the Africa Steering Committee’s full press release here.

Human Rights Watch condemned the arrest of Marcial Abaga in a press release.

EITI Board meeting

On 24-25 October 2011 the EITI International held its 18^th Board meeting.

Country decisions

The Board judged that Albania, Burkina Faso and Côte d’Ivoire had all made meaningful progress towards compliance and extended their deadlines by 18 months to 25 April 2013. Mauritania requested a secretariatreview, which the board granted.  In the case of Cameroon, the board decided additional information is needed before it can make a decision on the country’s new status. Madagascar was temporarily suspended from the EITI process, although no general policy for countries with disputed governments was agreed upon.

 The future of EITI

On Wednesday 26^th the Board (and observers) went to a retreat on the island of Bangka to discuss future strategic options for EITI.  The half-day discussions were intended to be as open as possible, and to allow for frank exchange between stakeholders. Board members first shared their perceptions of the current strengths and weaknesses of the EITI, and then representatives from each constituency were invited to make presentations as to the changes needed for the EITI in future.

The Board has decided that the next stage of the debate is to draft an “options paper” which lays out all of the constituents’ ideas for the future of EITI. This options paper will be discussed at the next Board meeting in February 2012 and will probably be followed by further consultations with EITI stakeholders.


You can find out more about the Strategy Working Group on the future of EITI here. 

G20 - The Deauville Declaration 

PWYP notes the G20’s acknowledgement of the steps taken by some members to oblige extractive companies to publish what they pay in the countries where they operate. We welcome the G20’s request that ‘multinational enterprises … improve transparency and full compliance with applicable tax laws’. PWYP encourages all G20 members to join the movement for mandatory financial reporting rules for extractive companies.

Also at the conference, billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates threw his weight behind publish what you pay rules. “I believe the G20 countries should endorse legally binding transparency requirements,” said Mr. Gates in a report on financing for development. “The United States recently passed such legislation, and the European Union is considering it, but all G20 countries should require the mining and oil companies listed on their stock exchanges to disclose payments to governments.”

Read PWYP's press release here. 

L’ITIE en réalité : Concours PCQVP ! 

Une recrudescence d'attaques contre les membres PCQVP

Ces derniers mois ont vu une recrudescence d’attaques et de menaces contre les membres de PCQVP en Afrique, particulièrement en Guinée équatoriale et la République Centre Africaine.

Le 1 novembre 2011 M. Marcial Abaga, membre de PCQVP, fut arrêtéen Guinée équatoriale. C’était douze heures après son arrestation qu’il a appris qu’il était accusé d’avoir tué le cuisinier du président. Daniel Bekele, directeur de la division Afrique à Human Rights Watch, a décrit cette allégation comme ‘purement et simplement dénuée de toute crédibilité.’ Abaga fut relâché le 4 novembre. Ainsi que militant pour PCQVP, Abaga est membre du comité exécutif national du parti de l’opposition. Il militait contre les réformes constitutionnelles  proposées dans le referendum du 14 novembre, des changements qui permettraient au Président Obiang de choisir lui-même son successeur. Président Obiang a gagné ce référendum avec  99.4 % des votes.

En septembre 2011 des activistes furent arrêtés dans la République centrafricaine en route pour sensibiliser les populations locales sur l’impact de l’uranium.

Lisez le communiqué de presse du comité de pilotage de PCQVP Afrique

Human Rights Watch a condamné l'arrestation de Marcial Abaga