The ONE InternationalThe fight against corruption
At ONE we’ve been spending a lot of our time in recent months campaigning for greater transparency in the oil, gas and mining industries. We believe that by putting information into the hands of local communities, governments of resource-rich countries will be better held account for how they spend their money. Corruption can be reduced and governance can be improved – the result being that more resources are spent on economic and social development programmes.
Today The Economist has a great analysis of how the campaign has progressed, including the passing in July of historic legislation in the US that will for the first time force extractive companies registered on the New York stock exchange to publish what they pay governments where they operate.
As The Economist says:
“The bipartisan amendment to the Dodd-Frank act requires every oil, gas and mining firm listed on an American stock exchange to disclose in detail all the payments it makes to governments. It is the biggest success yet for the “publish what you pay” campaign, a global coalition of anti-corruption groups…
…The campaign is now trying to get other countries to adopt similar rules. It is focusing its efforts on Britain and Hong Kong, an autonomous region of China, which has already introduced such rules for newly listed firms, but not existing ones. In Britain the newish coalition government is making encouraging noises. Stock markets in America, Britain and Hong Kong represent almost all of the world’s publicly listed oil, gas and mining companies.”
The article ends with a call to action for activists across the world:
“Yet, in the end, none of these efforts will succeed unless citizens support them. The final reason for optimism is that in a growing number of developing countries, local corruption hunters are becoming more visible… Such groups need more support, something anti-corruption activists are belatedly starting to realise.”
Comentários