Pushing for a new International Financial Reporting Standard for the oil, gas and mining industries

A new global standard for extractive company reporting is under development right now. It has the potential to make companies publish what they pay for oil, gas and minerals and provide information which is essential to fighting tax evasion and corruption.

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This week Norway, the first OECD country to implement the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), took an important step by publicly releasing its first EITI report disclosing all payments of taxes and fees made by oil companies to the government in 2008.

PWYP Norway coordinator Mona Thowsen congratulated Norway at the launch event and encouraged “all resource rich countries, including other OECD countries to engage meaningfully in the EITI tripartite process…”

A new report documenting the origins of the Publish What You Pay (PWYP) coalition and assessing its progress between 2002 and 2007 was launched this week at the PWYP International Conference in Montreal, Canada.

The report, entitled Publishing What We Learned, was authored by Mabel van Oranje, formerly of the Open Society Institute, and Henry Parham, former International Coordinator of PWYP.

We, members of Publish What You Pay (PWYP)* Africa, thank the Catholic Church for its commitment to promote the equitable management of natural resource wealth in Africa.

We commend the Church for continuing to place the issue of the resource curse and its repercussions at the centre of its discussions and deliberations on Africa.

On 15 September 2009, an appeal court in Niger’s capital Niamey ordered the provisional release of Rotab/PWYP Niger member Marou Amadou.

Marou Amadou, also President of the United Front for the Safeguard of Democratic Assets (FUSAD), was arrested on 10 August 2009 for “undermining state authority” following the publication of a declaration by FUSAD criticising President Tandja’s regime.

PWYP strongly condemns the transfer into police custody of Marou Amadou, president of the United Front for the Safeguard of Democratic Assets (FUSAD), coordinator of the Advisory and Orientation Committee for the Defence of Democratic Rights (CROISADE), and member of the Réseau des Organisations pour la Transparence et l’Analyse Budgetaire (ROTAB) – Publish What You Pay (PWYP) Niger.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
US Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20520

Dear Secretary Clinton,

Publish What You Pay (PWYP), the international civil society coalition for transparency and accountability in the extractive industries, is writing to draw your attention to the continued harassment of transparency and anticorruption advocates in Africa and the need for African governments to respect their commitments to encourage public debate on these issues.

Golden Misabiko, Chair of the African Association for the Protection of Human Rights (ASADHO) in Katanga, was arrested on 24 July and remains in custody in Lubumbashi. Timothée Mbuya, Vice-Chair of ASADHO/Katanga, was also arrested on 24 July but subsequently released on the same day. ASADHO is a member of Publish What You Pay (PWYP) Democratic Republic of Congo.

Both men were interrogated in Lubumbashi by members of the Congolese intelligence agency (Agence nationale de renseignements, ANR). Misabiko has been charged with “undermining State security” and “making defamatory statements” and is awaiting trial.

An international delegation comprised of Michel Roy (PWYP France), Michel Saraka (Economic Governance Program Manager, OSIWA), Evelyne Tsague (RWI Deputy Coordinator for Africa), and Marie-Ange Kalenga (PWYP Africa Coordinator) traveled to Niger last week to attend a multistakeholder Forum on Extractives Industries.

The Forum, which was organised by ROTAB/PWYP Niger¹ in Niamey from 13-15 July, aimed to step up dialogue and collaboration between various stakeholders to advance revenue transparency so that the country’s mining wealth benefits all Nigerien citizens.

Transparency in the extractive industries was very much on the agenda in Washington DC during the week 11-15 May. The World Bank and the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) held sessions on sub-national implementation of EITI and working with civil society to ensure EITI is implemented successfully.

14-15 May saw the convening of the 9th EITI Board which accepted Albania, Burkina Faso, Mozambique and Zambia as EITI Candidate countries.

PWYP member the Revenue Watch Institute (RWI) held its own event on how transit revenues could potentially be included in the framework of EITI. RWI followed events closely and posted regular updates here, including contributions from EITI board member Anthony Richter who was busy blogging on how the week unfolded.