Netherlands

Recent activities

27 March 2012 – ONE and Cordaid handed a petition to the Dutch government calling for strong transparency rules for oil, gas and mining companies at the EU level. The petition, hosted on ONE’s website, was signed by over 89,000 people. For more on the event, read ONE’s blog.

PWYP member Cordaid has been active in lobbying the Dutch parliament on natural resources issues, in cooperation with NIZA. Using the occasion of parliamentary debates on fragile states, Cordaid submitted a position paper on fragile states and the resource curse, highlighting the situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It aims at drawing politicians’ and other decision makers’ attention to the need for greater transparency in natural resource trade. This is especially important as access to natural resources is becoming an overriding policy objective of the European Union. Cordaid has argued that such policies are inconsistent with the EU’s strong international development agenda.

Cordaid also talks to companies, not only in the extractive industries, but also to those that use natural resources, such as electronic companies using coltan in their production of mobile phones or laptops. Together with other Dutch organisations, Cordaid has succeeded in raising awareness about the impact those companies have because of their ways of doing business or buying such resources. Recently, for example, Janine de Vries was a panellist in a debate organised by the Dutch NGO Both Ends on coal mining. She was able to put forward the views of PWYP on basic financial transparency issues in the presence of three major energy companies, participating in the debate. Only a few years back, many companies would have refused to debate publicly on human rights, sustainability or transparency issues.
In cases when activists in resource-rich developing countries are seriously threatened, PWYP members in the Netherlands have good contacts with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and embassies that are able to support or assist in emergency cases, giving either direct support or using diplomatic means.

PWYP Netherlands members have lobbied for public governmental support of the US Bills on transparency in the extractives industries. Despite positive responses from the Minister for Development, Cooperation and Economic affairs, the government collapsed before they could make any announcement. New elections are being held in June, and PWYP members will be able to renew their engagement then.