News and reports

Litigation runs contrary to the UK G8 Presidency’s push for a global transparency standard Global Witness is attending Shell’s AGM in The Hague today to ask the company to drop its support for a lawsuit that... read more
Campaign group Global Witness has backed a call by prominent figures including Kofi Annan, Bob Geldof and Graca Machel for Africa’s natural resource wealth to be used for the benefit of its people. This year’s report... read more
Planned revisions to the Democratic Republic of Congo’s hydrocarbons law contain major flaws that could allow gross mismanagement of the country’s oil wealth and serious environmental impacts. The draft text,... read more
Diarmid O'Sullivan, Open Society Foundation research fellow and ex-Global Witness campaigner has released a report today on how transparency helps identify problems in the governance of natural resources, as well... read more
简体中文 On 9 April 2013, the EU Member States, Parliament and Commission agreed to adopt new transparency rules for oil, gas, mining and logging companies. The agreement requires extractive and logging companies to publish... read more
Global Witness raised repeated concerns of corruption risks over opaque mining deals in Congo  The UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) announced yesterday that they are opening a criminal investigation into FTSE 100... read more
Beny Steinmetz Group Resources says there was no corrupt behaviour in its acquisition of licences to one of the world’s largest iron ore concessions, in the West African nation of Guinea. It asserts that the wife of a... read more
The US authorities have arrested a man in Florida in connection with the controversial acquisition of mining rights in Guinea by Beny Steinmetz Group Resources (BSGR), according to a US court document and a press... read more
简体中文 For immediate release New law represents a major victory after decade and a half campaign The EU has today agreed ground-breaking new rules forcing oil, gas, mining and logging companies to publish details of the... read more
简体中文 As oil production resumes in South Sudan this week, Global Witness is calling on the government to implement the transparency measures passed as part of oil legislation last year and to clarify recent reports of... read more
To read in English, click here. L’Italia deve garantire l’evidenza di tali pagamenti in conformità alla nuova direttiva sulla trasparenza Secondo gli atti di un caso recentemente al vaglio della High Court del Regno... read more
To read about Shell's alleged meeting with Etete, click here. Leggi in italiano Italy must ensure new Transparency Directive reveals such payments Proceedings in a recent UK High Court case have revealed that Italian... read more
To read about ENI's alleged meetings with Etete, click here.  Meanwhile Shell attempts to weaken laws that will reveal such payments Proceedings in a recent UK High Court case have revealed that Royal Dutch Shell... read more
South Sudan hopes to sell several unexplored oil blocks for $1 billion in coming months, a finance official said, giving a potential lifeline for the African country's hobbled economy. Reuters. To read the Global... read more
Norwegian state-owned oil company Statoil has formally distanced itself from a U.S. oil industry lawsuit that seeks to scrap a landmark transparency and anti-corruption law established in the United States.  The... read more
Litigation runs contrary to the UK G8 Presidency’s push for a global transparency standard Global Witness is attending Shell’s AGM in The Hague today to ask the company to drop its support for a lawsuit that... read more
Campaign group Global Witness has backed a call by prominent figures including Kofi Annan, Bob Geldof and Graca Machel for Africa’s natural resource wealth to be used for the benefit of its people. This year’s report... read more
Planned revisions to the Democratic Republic of Congo’s hydrocarbons law contain major flaws that could allow gross mismanagement of the country’s oil wealth and serious environmental impacts. The draft text,... read more
Global Witness raised repeated concerns of corruption risks over opaque mining deals in Congo  The UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) announced yesterday that they are opening a criminal investigation into FTSE 100... read more
Beny Steinmetz Group Resources says there was no corrupt behaviour in its acquisition of licences to one of the world’s largest iron ore concessions, in the West African nation of Guinea. It asserts that the wife of a... read more
The US authorities have arrested a man in Florida in connection with the controversial acquisition of mining rights in Guinea by Beny Steinmetz Group Resources (BSGR), according to a US court document and a press... read more
简体中文 For immediate release New law represents a major victory after decade and a half campaign The EU has today agreed ground-breaking new rules forcing oil, gas, mining and logging companies to publish details of the... read more
简体中文 As oil production resumes in South Sudan this week, Global Witness is calling on the government to implement the transparency measures passed as part of oil legislation last year and to clarify recent reports of... read more
To read in English, click here. L’Italia deve garantire l’evidenza di tali pagamenti in conformità alla nuova direttiva sulla trasparenza Secondo gli atti di un caso recentemente al vaglio della High Court del Regno... read more
To read about Shell's alleged meeting with Etete, click here. Leggi in italiano Italy must ensure new Transparency Directive reveals such payments Proceedings in a recent UK High Court case have revealed that Italian... read more
To read about ENI's alleged meetings with Etete, click here.  Meanwhile Shell attempts to weaken laws that will reveal such payments Proceedings in a recent UK High Court case have revealed that Royal Dutch Shell... read more
Norwegian state-owned oil company Statoil has formally distanced itself from a U.S. oil industry lawsuit that seeks to scrap a landmark transparency and anti-corruption law established in the United States.  The... read more
Click here to read in English. Voor onmiddellijke publicatie Het schandaal rond een Nigeriaanse oliedeal, waarbij Shell en het Italiaanse bedrijf Eni betrokken zijn, en waarbij een bedrag van 1,1 miljard US dollar werd... read more
Klik hier om te lezen in het nederlands. For immediate release As the scandal grows around a Nigerian oil deal involving Shell and Italian firm Eni who made a US$1.1 billion payment that ended up in the accounts of a... read more
Shareholders of London-listed Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation will meet on Friday 28 December to vote on a $550 million deal aimed at buying out its main copper-and-cobalt mining partner in the Democratic... read more
简体中文 On 9 April 2013, the EU Member States, Parliament and Commission agreed to adopt new transparency rules for oil, gas, mining and logging companies. The agreement requires extractive and logging companies to publish... read more
Shareholders of London-listed Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation will meet on Friday 28 December to vote on a $550 million deal aimed at buying out its main copper-and-cobalt mining partner in the Democratic... read more
Global Witness welcomes the public response of the Ministry of Mines to our Copper Bottomed? report on Afghanistan’s biggest private investment and the country’s first major extractives agreement – the 2008 Aynak copper... read more
With independence on 9 July 2011, the Republic of South Sudan became both the newest and the most oil-dependent country in the world. South Sudan has been blessed with oil wealth that, if managed responsibly, could... read more
Click here to read the associated press release. 简体中文 برای دانلود متن کامل گزارش، اینجا را کلیک کنید په پښــــــــتو ژبه د راپور لنډیز د لوستلو لپاره دغه ځای کلیک کړی As Afghanistan looks to its future beyond transition... read more
As the Democratic Republic of Congo begins the process of revising its mining and oil codes, Global Witness has published its recommendations on how the codes could best ensure transparent and accountable management of... read more
Thirteen congressional representatives sent a letter today to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, ahead of a key donor conference on Afghanistan being held in Tokyo later this week. The letter highlights the... read more
ENRC must address corruption concerns in DRC and publish findings. Click the link below to download the full memo. read more
On July 8th 2012, the international community and Afghan government will meet in Tokyo to discuss Afghanistan's future development. Ahead of the conference, Global Witness has joined national and international NGOs in a... read more
Ahead of the NATO Chicago Summit this month, Global Witness, Integrity Watch Afghanistan, and the Revenue Watch Institute have sent a joint civil society letter to Secretary General Rasmussen urging all NATO member... read more
Secrecy surrounding Glencore’s business deals in DRC risks exposing shareholders to corrupt practices. Click the link below to read the memo. read more
On this page you will find details of the Global Witness investigation into Glencore, including the briefing we sent to Glencore's shareholders and questions we put to Glencore and Dan Gertler in writing, along with the... read more
 25 اپریل 2012 گزارش خبری : آینده سکتور استخراج معادن افغانستان در معرض خطر قراردادهای ضعیف قرار دارد گزارش گلوبل ویتنس، رفتن به سوی طلا، یگانه تحلیلی از دو مورد بزرگترین معامله های استخراج معادن کشور تا به امروز... read more
Download the briefing: Extractive sector transparency: Why the EU needs a strong set of rules THE PROBLEM: In 2009, Africa’s oil, gas and minerals exports were worth roughly five times the value of international aid to... read more
Global Witness has obtained Gaddafi-era documents that detail the mismanagement of millions of dollars of Libyan oil revenues and highlight murky practices by Libya's state-owned National Oil Company (NOC). These... read more
Diarmid O'Sullivan, Open Society Foundation research fellow and ex-Global Witness campaigner has released a report today on how transparency helps identify problems in the governance of natural resources, as well... read more
Britain‘s G8 presidency a chance to reframe the poverty debate It’s always encouraging to see our leaders pushing the right line for a change. Outlining his agenda for the G8 at the World Economic Forum in Davos... read more
One story that will be sure to develop in 2013 is the controversy around ENRC’s activities in Congo. For the background for this, a good place to start is the Global Witness statement of 23 December: “ENRC shareholders... read more
Huffington Post blog written by Global Witness' Sudan and South Sudan Analyst, Dana Wilkins, available here. read more
Global Witness's Anthea Lawson and the Financial Task Force's Christine Clough discuss ways to address the illicit financial flows that threaten Uganda's extractive sector and wider economy. Read here. read more
Read this blog on Huffington Post. When governments around the world are taking measures in support of fiscal austerity, foreign assistance is always a prime target for the chopping block. Bravely, some governments,... read more
Diarmid O'Sullivan, Open Society Foundation research fellow and ex-Global Witness campaigner has released a report today on how transparency helps identify problems in the governance of natural resources, as well... read more
A report by Peru Support Group. Abstract: High gold prices, persistent poverty and a shortage of employment opportunities in Peru have all contributed to an increase in artisanal and small-scale gold mining activity in... read more
South Sudan will market its crude through its oil ministry, an oil official said on Thursday casting further doubt on the role trading major Glencore's venture will have in selling the nation's oil. Alexander Dziadosz... read more
Officials working with Libya's new governing authority are examining whether any payments made by Société Générale SA as part of its business relationship with the Libyan Investment Authority ended up in the hands of... read more
South Sudan's oil minister said on Saturday that an oil cargo detained by northern officials in Port Sudan in a row over duty payments had now sailed, but that negotiations over transit fees were stalled - read... read more
Two days before Sudan splits in two, negotiating teams have failed to agree how to divide the oil critical to the economies of north and south, as aid agencies warn the country is closest to war since a 2005 peace deal... read more
 A founding myth in the Southern Highlands of Papua New Guinea is said to have foretold the arrival of ExxonMobil, the American oil giant that is preparing to extract natural gas here and ship it overseas.  ... read more
South Sudan hopes to sell several unexplored oil blocks for $1 billion in coming months, a finance official said, giving a potential lifeline for the African country's hobbled economy. Reuters. To read the Global... read more
One story that will be sure to develop in 2013 is the controversy around ENRC’s activities in Congo. For the background for this, a good place to start is the Global Witness statement of 23 December: “ENRC shareholders... read more
With peril looming on both countries’ economic horizons, Sudan and South Sudan brokered a milestone oil-transit agreement over the weekend to the effusive praise of the international community. The deal represents a... read more
South Sudan says it will allow full access to information involving deals with international financial institutions, following a report by Global Witness on Wednesday, which it recommends that the new nation “exercise... read more
An intense lobbying campaign is under way as U.S. authorities prepare to implement what are supposed to be investor-friendly laws designed to clarify the global operations of listed oil companies. Zhang Tao and Wang... read more
Huffington Post blog written by Global Witness' Sudan and South Sudan Analyst, Dana Wilkins, available here. read more
Rob Walker of the BBC Assignment team investigates what’s happened to billions of dollars in oil revenues paid to the government of Equatorial Guinea since it's oil boom in the 1990s. Anthea Lawson from Global... read more
China, the largest buyer of Sudanese crude oil, is pressing Sudan and the newly independent South Sudan to end a row that has led to the blockade of about 200,000 barrels a day of crude oil and contributed to... read more
Sudan said on Monday it had halted landlocked South Sudan's oil exports until the two agree on a transit fee, stepping up a row between the former civil war foes over how to untangle their once-integrated oil industries... read more
A suspected Sudanese air strike on a refugee camp in South Sudan will not trigger a return to war but belligerent posturing on both sides will complicate and slow talks over oil transit fees and other sensitive disputes... read more
With Colonel Muammar Gaddafi all but gone, Libya's prospects can be summed up in one word: oil, says Vivienne Walt in TIME Magazine. Far different from the revolutions in Tunisia or Egypt, or the rebellions in Yemen... read more
Beyond the immediate priority of securing control of the LIA assets frozen as a result of international sanctions, the challenge confronting Libya’s new leadership is how to reform an institution that, if it survives in... read more
As its independence draws near, South Sudan has yet to agree how to divide oil revenues with its northern neighbor, which has the infrastructure to export the oil the south needs to sell to survive - read here. read more
Heavy fighting along the border between north and south Sudan has displaced tens of thousands of people and further complicated next month's planned southern independence, jeopardizing billions of dollars in oil revenue... read more
Global Witness's Anthea Lawson and the Financial Task Force's Christine Clough discuss ways to address the illicit financial flows that threaten Uganda's extractive sector and wider economy. Read here. read more