The Deputy Director of WACAM, a Ghanaian mining advocacy and
human rights nongovernmental organisation, who was speaking at this
year’s 5th International Conference of Extractive Industries
Transparency Initiative (EITI) in Paris, said if the organisation were
to remain credible and relevant it would need to extend its scope to
areas such as contracts and licences, according to a release from the
conference.
The EITI is a coalition of governments; companies; civil society
groups; investors; and international organisations that sets global
standards for transparency in oil, gas and mining industries. EITI rules establish the methodology countries need to follow to
become fully compliant. The standards promote revenue transparency at
the local level.
Radhika Sarin, International Coordinator of Publish What You Pay
(PWYP), a global civil society coalition, urged EITI to take bold
steps to ensure it remained robust and meaningful over the next two
years. He said: “The EITI has been a ground-breaking initiative, which
has put revenue transparency firmly on the agenda, but it now needs to
embrace changes which will ensure that transparency leads to true
accountability.”
PWYP also called on the EITI to embrace complementary financial
reporting regulations such as stock exchange listing rules and
international accounting standards which would reinforce the impact of
EITI. “The US Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection
Act of July 2010 which requires all oil, gas and mining companies
registered with the US Securities and Exchange Commission to report
their payments to foreign governments on a country-by-country, and a
project-by-project basis will greatly strengthen EITI implementation
processes and encourage other countries to join the initiative,” said
EITI Board member Dorjdari Namkhaijantsan of the Open Society Forum in
Mongolia.“We heartily welcome recent announcements by the French
President, Nicolas Sarkozy and by the UK Government that both France
and Britain will also push for oil, gas and mining transparency laws
in the European Union and our hope is that progressively more
countries with major capital markets will adopt similar rules,” Mr
Namkhaijantsan said.
Commenting on the news that 11 countries out of 35, which now
implement the international initiative have been designated as EITI
Compliant, Anthony Richter of the Revenue Watch Institute and member
of the EITI’s multi-stakeholder Board, said: “It is clear that the
EITI standard for transparency is achievable, the challenge is now for
the EITI to ensure strong protection and participation of civil
society, embrace new and complementary financial reporting
requirements, and widen the scope of the initiative to include issues
such as contracts and licensing. These factors will ensure that all
citizens are able to benefit from the vast revenues generated from the
oil, gas and mining industries.”
Jean Claude Katende, of the Association Africaine de Défense des
Droits de l’Homme in the Democratic Republic of Congo and an EITI
Board member, spoke of the strides the EITI has made in ensuring the
free and active participation of civil society in EITI processes as
evidenced by strengthened rules for the initiative in this area.
However, Mr Katende also struck a cautionary note: “Civil
society campaigners have often suffered harassment for championing the
cause of greater openness in the natural resources sector. It is
central to the continued credibility of the EITI’s international
standing that civil society activists are able to work freely and
without fear of interference or threat.”
Mrs Owusu-Koranteng has been nominated to represent Civil Society
Organisations globally on the Board of the EITI International
Secretariat for the next two years.
Link:
"Citizens Have The Right To Know How Much Countries Earn"