Location:
Washington, DC

Organised and/or sponsored by:
Oxfam America, Revenue Watch Institute, International Institute for Environment and Development, Bank Information Center, Global Witness, Publish What You Pay – USA, Publish What You Pay – International

Description:
Issues related to extractive industries contracts between companies and host governments include access and availability; impacts on human rights and the environment; citizen and parliamentary participation in negotiation and approval of contracts; financial “take” of the government from EI deal; and other important issues. While much international attention has been given to transparency and management of extractive industries revenues, less attention has been paid to extractive industry contract issues.

This one-day international conference will bring together international NGOs, civil society groups from developing countries, academics and researchers, donors, corporate and government representatives and legal practitioners to discuss these issues from a variety of perspectives.

The conference has the following objectives:

• To raise the profile of EI contract related issues within the broader extractive industries reform discourse (building the case for disclosure, addressing stabilization clauses, environmental and social implications, human rights, maximizing take (“fair share”), etc.)
• To place contracts in context, including the role they have taken on in legal system and how they interact with other pieces of legal framework
• To foster and advance a substantive debate between stakeholders (civil society, companies, governments) as well as with academic experts
• To draw attention to the contract-related research products different groups have produced in the last year or are about to release
• To engage advocacy targets – e.g. the World Bank, IFC, IMF and others
• To improve policies and practices related to EI contracts

Panels will examine contract-related issues and highlight specific country-case studies – e.g. Liberia, Peru, Ghana – to examine how contract disclosure and engagement with contract-related issues has contributed to reform of the extractive industry sector more broadly.

The conference on Sept. 23 will be open to all sectors. On Sept. 24, international NGOs, developing country civil society representatives and allies will hold a half-day strategy session to examine ways to move the advocacy, capacity building and technical assistance agendas related to contract issues forward.

Further information:
For more information on the planned conference or to contribute to the conference preparation or planning, please contact:
Ian Gary at Oxfam America – igary@oxfamamerica.org
Susan Maples at Revenue Watch Institute – Susan Maples – smaple1@law.columbia.edu

A note on funding:
While selected representatives from resource-rich countries will be invited to participate in the conference, the conference organizers do not have funding to sponsor a significant number of resource-rich country representatives. The presentations and results of the conference will be documented and shared through the Publish What You Pay coalition.