OSIWA Resource and Budget Initiative for Transparency (ORBIT)
The Publish What You Pay campaign represents a vital new focus within the appeal for global responsibility and financial transparency, with the potential to have significant impact in mineral-rich states of the developing world. Calling primarily for the mandatory disclosure of payments to governments by multinational natural resource companies, the Publish What You Pay campaign presents the opportunity to strengthen and amplify the efforts of affected communities and bring them into what has already become a substantial international advocacy campaign, spearheaded by George Soros and the Open Society Institute.The Publish What You Pay campaign is a network of over 30 non-governmental organizations advocating for oil, gas and mining companies to publish net taxes, fees, royalties and other payments.
"The lack of transparency over payments to developing countries for resource extraction has allowed ruling elites to mismanage and misappropriate revenues, contributing to poverty and instability. In Africa, we face a situation where billions of dollars from oil, mining and gas revenues go missing, leaving us dependent on international assistance to feed our people,” said Julius Ihonvbere of the Africa Centre for Constitutional Development in Nigeria. “If governments make the bold step to support this campaign, it has the potential to bring huge improvements to the health and development of the people living in many of the countries in the region. After all, you cannot manage what you cannot measure."
Source: “George Soros and NGOs Call for Rules to Require Corporations to Disclose Payments,” Publish What You Pay, news release, June 13, 2002)
The goals of the Publish What You Pay campaign are of utmost relevance to many communities within West Africa. The sub-region’s experience ranges from that of communities affected by emerging oil production in Chad and Cameroon, to those living with the legacy of a decade-long conflict in the Mano River Union (Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone). In these and other West African countries where resource extraction accounts for a substantial proportion of the nation’s revenues, the aims and activities of the Publish What You Pay campaign could play an important role in fostering an environment in which development and conflict resolution can take hold.
Transparency and responsible action on the part of resource companies, and the mainstreaming of these issues in the dialogue of international institutions such as the G8 and the United Nations, are a prerequisite to any effective monitoring of policy reform. Some progress has been made recently in this area on the international level, but the participation of local NGO’s and civil society has not effectively occurred.
OSIWA is focused on expanding the coalition working on the Publish What You Pay campaign to include NGO’s actively focused on the issues within affected West African communities and nations. However, the diverse social, political and economic West African experience requires that OSIWA adopt a specific focus within the framework of the Publish What You Pay campaign that can be summarized as follows:
OSIWA will focus on empowering local groups who, despite their often chronic lack of resources, have invaluable knowledge of their specific local context, the problems their communities face and the actions which must be undertaken to address them. These groups will be supported to participate in the international campaign, enhance their local activities and ensure that once international and national mechanisms are in place, they can continue to lead and monitor the implementation of the process from a local perspective.
The focus of the Publish What You Pay campaign has so far been very specifically targeted at multinational corporations that are vulnerable to consumer pressure and their reputation among shareholders, and who can be regulated by international stock exchanges, as proposed by the campaign. However, in many West African countries affected by the extraction of mineral resources such as diamonds, the key challenge lies with small independent business and middlemen unaccountable to these international standards. Attention must be paid to these individuals, who often account for the bulk of the mineral trade, especially in conflict-prone countries.
For more information visit the Publish What you Pay Web site at www.publishwhatyoupay.org.
"The lack of transparency over payments to developing countries for resource extraction has allowed ruling elites to mismanage and misappropriate revenues, contributing to poverty and instability. In Africa, we face a situation where billions of dollars from oil, mining and gas revenues go missing, leaving us dependent on international assistance to feed our people,” said Julius Ihonvbere of the Africa Centre for Constitutional Development in Nigeria. “If governments make the bold step to support this campaign, it has the potential to bring huge improvements to the health and development of the people living in many of the countries in the region. After all, you cannot manage what you cannot measure."
Source: “George Soros and NGOs Call for Rules to Require Corporations to Disclose Payments,” Publish What You Pay, news release, June 13, 2002)
The goals of the Publish What You Pay campaign are of utmost relevance to many communities within West Africa. The sub-region’s experience ranges from that of communities affected by emerging oil production in Chad and Cameroon, to those living with the legacy of a decade-long conflict in the Mano River Union (Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone). In these and other West African countries where resource extraction accounts for a substantial proportion of the nation’s revenues, the aims and activities of the Publish What You Pay campaign could play an important role in fostering an environment in which development and conflict resolution can take hold.
Transparency and responsible action on the part of resource companies, and the mainstreaming of these issues in the dialogue of international institutions such as the G8 and the United Nations, are a prerequisite to any effective monitoring of policy reform. Some progress has been made recently in this area on the international level, but the participation of local NGO’s and civil society has not effectively occurred.
OSIWA is focused on expanding the coalition working on the Publish What You Pay campaign to include NGO’s actively focused on the issues within affected West African communities and nations. However, the diverse social, political and economic West African experience requires that OSIWA adopt a specific focus within the framework of the Publish What You Pay campaign that can be summarized as follows:
- i. Implementing the necessary legislative changes and reinterpretation of existing law that could make publication of payments by multinational corporations a mandatory requirement of regulatory bodies such as the United Kingdom Financial Services Authority and the United States Securities and Exchanges Commission. These bodies have the power to make such publication a pre-condition for companies seeking to be listed on international stock exchanges.
- ii. Demanding that international institutions call on legislative and enforcement bodies to require companies involved in publicly-traded resource extraction to disclose payments to governments, and provide governments with technical assistance in developing socially-responsible resource revenue management practices and consultative mechanisms with civil society.
- iii. Encouraging donors to provide incentives for the establishment of transparency and accountability. It is hoped that these reforms will have an effect on many related areas, creating an overall framework of transparency and accountability that is fundamental for the general success of sustainable development initiatives, and NEPAD in particular, to proceed.
OSIWA will focus on empowering local groups who, despite their often chronic lack of resources, have invaluable knowledge of their specific local context, the problems their communities face and the actions which must be undertaken to address them. These groups will be supported to participate in the international campaign, enhance their local activities and ensure that once international and national mechanisms are in place, they can continue to lead and monitor the implementation of the process from a local perspective.
The focus of the Publish What You Pay campaign has so far been very specifically targeted at multinational corporations that are vulnerable to consumer pressure and their reputation among shareholders, and who can be regulated by international stock exchanges, as proposed by the campaign. However, in many West African countries affected by the extraction of mineral resources such as diamonds, the key challenge lies with small independent business and middlemen unaccountable to these international standards. Attention must be paid to these individuals, who often account for the bulk of the mineral trade, especially in conflict-prone countries.
For more information visit the Publish What you Pay Web site at www.publishwhatyoupay.org.