United States

Recent activities

Last Update 20.09.2011

On 20 September 2011 President Obama announced at the launch of the Open Government Partnership in New York that the United States would join EITI. Find out more

Although the Cardin-Lugar amendment was signed into law in July 2010, the SEC has to release the rules governing the provision before it can come into effect. PWYP USA has spent much of the last year lobbying hard and coordinating civil society organisations to ensure that the rules are not weakened. You can view their contributions to the SEC’s consultation process here.

Representatives of PWYP USA have also participated in several global events (such as the EITI Global conference in March and the PWYP Africa Regional meeting in May) explaining the mechanics of Dodd-Frank 1504 and how it will be helpful to campaigners at the national level in other countries .

On 28 April 2010 the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, which included policy language on extractive industry transparency that parallels parts of the ESTT. The proposed Act calls on the US President to work with foreign governments, including members of the G8 and the G20, to establish domestic requirements obliging companies under the jurisdiction of each government to publicly disclose any payments made to a government relating to the commercial development of oil, natural gas, and minerals. In addition, the United States Government should commit to global leadership of transparency in the extractive industries through, amongst other things, US implementation of EITI.

In April 2010, several members of the PWYP coalition – Oxfam America, Revenue Watch Institute – testified at a Helsinki Commission hearing “The Link Between Revenue Transparency and Human Rights”. In their hearing testimonies, PWYP US coalition members called on the US government to pass the ESTT and provide support to measures to protect human rights so that civil society groups can take action on revenue transparency. PWYP facilitated the participation of Arlan, an NGO partner from Kazakhstan, who called for the passing of ESTT to help address corruption and human rights abuses in Kazakhstan. This was echoed by ESTT co-sponsor and Helsinki Chairman Senator Ben Cardin, who signaled that the passing of ESTT was a critical contribution to helping create an environment where human rights advocates can begin to hold their governments accountable.