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FAQs

1. What is the PWYP campaign?

Publish What You Pay (PWYP) is a global civil society coalition that campaigns for transparency in the payment, receipt and management of revenues from the oil, gas and mining industries.

2. What problem is PWYP addressing?

Despite billions of dollars of incoming revenues from oil, gas and mining extraction, citizens of more than 50 resource rich countries around the world remain steeped in poverty. If governments managed these revenues transparently and effectively, they could serve as a basis for successful economic growth and poverty reduction. This has proved to be the exception rather than the rule.

3. When was PWYP set up, why and by whom?

In December 1999 Global Witness published a report called A Crude Awakening, an exposé of the apparent complicity of the oil and banking industries in the plundering of state assets during Angola’s 40-year civil war. It became clear that the refusal to release financial information by major multinational oil companies aided and abetted the mismanagement and embezzlement of oil revenues by the elite in the country. The report concluded with a public call on the oil companies operating in Angola to ‘publish what you pay’.

It was clear however that the lack of transparency in the extractive industries was also a significant concern in other resource-rich but poor countries. Therefore in June 2002 Global Witness along with other founding members, CAFOD, Open Society Institute, Oxfam GB, Save the Children UK and Transparency International UK, launched the worldwide PWYP campaign, calling for all natural resource companies to disclose their payments to governments for every country of operation.

4. How does PWYP operate?

PWYP members now span 60 countries, with national affiliated campaigns in 31 of these, many with their own national coordinators. Representatives from the entire coalition meet every two years for an international strategy meeting.

The PWYP global network is supported by an international secretariat, based in London (and an Africa Regional Coordinator, based in Ghana). The principal role of the PWYP international office is to service and support our affiliated national coalitions and members, and in so doing, sustain a cohesive, strong and vibrant global PWYP network.

Given the massive growth of the coalition in recent years, PWYP is currently undertaking a strategic review of its global advocacy priorities and scope for the period 2012-2015. As part of this process PWYP will be developing a new global governance structure to help shape the governance and relationships between the International Secretariat and the its affiliated coalitions, globally as well as between and within coalitions.

5. Where exactly does PWYP have presence?

PWYP national affiliated coalitions currently exist in Azerbaijan, Australia, Belgium, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Chad, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, France, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Indonesia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Mongolia, Niger, Nigeria, Norway, Papua New Guinea, Sierra Leone, Republic of Congo, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Uganda, United States, Yemen, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

In addition to these coalitions, PWYP has individual member organisations in Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Angola, Australia, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Botswana, Central African Republic, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Equatorial Guinea, Germany, Ireland, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Nepal, Netherlands, Peru, Philippines, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, South Korea, Spain, Swaziland, Switzerland and Tajikistan.

6. What does PWYP want to achieve?

PWYP calls for companies to ‘publish what you pay’ and for governments, at a national and local level, to ‘publish what you earn’ as a necessary first step towards a more accountable system for the management of natural resource revenues.

If companies disclose what they pay, and governments disclose their receipts of such revenues, then members of civil society in resource-rich countries will be able to compare the two and thus hold their governments accountable for the management of this valuable source of income.

Extractive companies and local authorities should also disclose information about social investments (e.g. infrastructure or education programs) and payments to local budgets made by extractive companies.

In addition PWYP calls for the public disclosure of extractive industry business contracts and for licensing procedures to be carried out transparently.

7. Who does PWYP target to achieve its mission?

The PWYP coalition calls on:

  • Multi-national, private and state-owned extractive companies to disclose a net figure for all types of payments (royalties, taxes, bonuses etc) made to governments, for every country of operation, in their annual financial accounts, and to disclose to which level of government payments are made;
  • Governments of resource-rich countries to:
    1. Require disclosure of payments by all extractive companies operating in their territory on a company-by-company basis and by payment type;
    2. ‘Publish what you earn’, i.e. disclose fully revenues from resource extraction;
    3. Independently audit and verify this information in line with best international practice. This can be achieved by way of full implementation of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative and compliance with international codes such as the IMF Guide on Resource Revenue Transparency;
    4. Put in place mechanisms for sub-national reporting of payments and revenues;
    5. Establish open, participatory and transparent budget processes at national, regional and local levels in order to consult with civil society on the effective allocation and management of revenues from resource extraction and public finances in order to promote broad-based economic and social development;
  • Governments of OECD countries to require country-by-country disclosure of payments of all extractive companies registered or listed on financial markets in their country;
  • Bilateral and multi-lateral financial institutions, including the World Bank Group, IMF, regional development banks, export credit agencies and private sector banks, to require extractive companies to comply with the PWYP requirements on transparency of payments as a pre-condition of all project support, and governments to have in place a functioning system to account for and independently audit revenues from extractive industries in return for non-humanitarian/non-emergency development, technical and financial assistance;
  • Donor organisations to promote the empowerment and capacity building of civil society organisations across resource-rich countries in order to allow citizens to hold their government accountable for the management and expenditure of revenues received from the extractive industries.

For more information please contact info@publishwhatyoupay.org or on +44 20 7031 1616.