Global Witness - Breaking the links between natural resources, conflict and corruption
Our media library allows you access our reports, press releases, briefing documents, videos and audio clips. You are able to search for the information you need by using the menu to the left of your screen.
The Bribery Act: what it means for business
Briefing paper produced by the Chartered Institute of Managment Accountants in collaboration with Global Witness outlining the implications for accountants and businesses worldwide of the new 2010 UK Bribery Act.
Report – 27/07/2010
Russian translation of 'Risky Business' report. Russkyi perevod doklada 'Riskovyi biznes.'
Report – 26/07/2010
Renewing the Pledge: Re-Engaging the Guarantors to the Sudanese Comprehensive Peace Agreement
With six months until a referendum on Southern independence, Sudan is alarmingly unprepared. Renewing the Pledge is published by a coalition of 26 NGOs, including Global Witness from Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and the US. The report calls calls for urgent action from African heads of state who will meet shortly at a major summit of the African Union in Uganda from 19 – 27 July.
Report – 14/07/2010
Kazakhmys plc, a FTSE 100 company which mines copper in the Central Asian nation of Kazakhstan, failed to declare potentially key information about its shareholders and directors when it listed on the London Stock Exchange, thereby exposing investors to unquantifiable risk. This report raises serious concerns about London's "light-touch" market regulation and argues that it would be in the public interest for companies like Kazakhmys to be required to provide much more information to investors about political risk.
Report – 13/07/2010
Do No Harm: A guide for companies sourcing from the DRC
Companies sourcing minerals and metals from conflict zones have a responsibility to ensure that they are not directly or indirectly funding human rights abuses or other crimes. Some companies claim that it is too complicated or too difficult for them to do. Global Witness has produced a guide, outlining the steps they must take.
Report – 08/07/2010 – French
Zimbabwe’s Zanu PF political and military elite are seeking to capture the country’s diamond wealth through a combination of state-sponsored violence and the legally questionable introduction of opaque joint-venture companies. The Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, set up to end the trade in conflict diamonds, has repeatedly failing to react effectively to the crisis.
Report – 14/06/2010
Joint letter to the Financial Action Task Force ahead of its June plenary
An open letter calling on the Financial Action Task Force to ramp up the fight against the proceeds of corruption.
Report – 11/06/2010
Report: Independent monitoring vital in US$4 billion deal to end deforestation
Money pledged to help developing countries prevent deforestation and reduce carbon emissions is likely to be lost to corruption unless efforts are made from the outset to improve governance, law enforcement capacity and accountability. outlines details of a system for independent monitoring, essential to complement social and environmental safeguards, and a necessary component of governance reform. This report sets out a range of checks and balances that are necessary to protect both the interests of forest-dependent communities and the global environment.
Report – 03/06/2010
This report reveals how Singapore’s rapid expansion is driving an ecologically and socially devastating sand-dredging industry in Cambodia. This booming trade is being monopolised by two prominent Cambodian Senators with close ties to Prime Minster Hun Sen – despite a supposed government ban on sand exports.
Report – 10/05/2010 – Khmer
A near miss? Lessons learnt from the allocation of mining licences in the Gola Forest Reserve in Sierra Leone
Between 2005 and 2007, two mining licences were issued in the Gola Forest Reserve in Sierra Leone, even though the area was a proposed national park. This new report identifies weaknesses in Sierra Leone's natural resource governance and attempts to draw lessons for the future.
Report – 25/02/2010
Latest Publications
September 2010
Global Witness stands by findings on Sudanese oil data
Global Witness today refuted claims that it had apologized for the findings of its September 2009 report, Fuelling Mistrust, on the lack of transparency in Sudan's oil sector. The organisation said that although very important commitments on improving transparency were made recently by the Government of National Unity (GoNU), the full disclosure of oil revenue data and the results of an independent audit remain necessary to prove the concerns were unfounded.
August 2010
Global Witness welcomes Norwegian government disinvestment from predatory loggers Samling
Global Witness welcomes the Norwegian Government Pension Fund's decision to disinvest from the notorious Malaysian timber giant Samling. Global Witness has previously exposed illegal logging by Samling in Cambodia as well as evidence of legal breaches by two Samling-associated companies in Liberia.
Global Witness welcomes new commitment to transparency in Sudan
Global Witness has participated in a landmark seminar on oil revenue transparency in Khartoum, organised by the Sudanese government and attended by foreign oil companies. We welcome the commitment to increase transparency, including an audit of the oil sector and publication of key production and revenue figures.
Global Witness applauds RBS penalty over terrorist financing
Global Witness welcomes the decisive action taken by the UK financial regulator, the FSA, which has fined the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) £5.6 million for failing to check whether its customers were on the UK terrorist sanctions list.
Campbell testimony shines light on blood diamonds and the importance of international justice
Global Witness is attending the trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor in The Hague as supermodel Naomi Campbell is called to testify. The event offers a useful reminder of the role of natural resources in funding conflict, and of the importance of pursuing justice for the victims of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
