For immediate release
On the 14th September 2012, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will begin a two day tour of Sabah in Malaysian Borneo. The official purpose of the visit is to highlight the conservation activities... read more
News and reports
07.09.2012 | Global Witness analysis points to serious flaws in Uganda’s draft oil laws despite MPs recommendations
Petroleum wealth has the potential to help raise millions out of poverty, but it also runs the risk of plunging Uganda towards the resource curse. A robust legislative framework which provides transparency and... read more
04.09.2012 | Signing Their Lives Away: Liberia’s Private Use Permits and the Destruction of Community-Owned Rainforest
Read press release on this issue
Click here for Government announcement of investigation into this issue.
A quarter of Liberia’s total landmass has been granted to logging companies in just two years,... read more
Click here for report
Click here to read about this report on BBC Online
Click here to see Government announcement of investigation
BBC Africa Podcast 4th September 2012 - Interview with Chloe Fussell.... read more
29.08.2012 | Global Witness comment on SEC conflict minerals rule
Click here to read our initial comment on some of the key provisions relating to companies’ implementation.
On 22 August the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) voted on the rules for the Dodd... read more
23.08.2012 | Heritage Oil arbitration case in London deprives Ugandan citizens of right to information
PRESS RELEASE – EMBARGOED UNTIL 00:01 GMT+1 TUESDAY 28.08.12
A closed-door London arbitration tribunal between Heritage Oil and the Government of Uganda denies Ugandans the right to information about the management of... read more
A summary by Global Witness, June 2012
Read our briefing document summarising baseline evaluations of artisanal mining communities in eastern DRC.
Seven baseline evaluations of artisanal mining communities in eastern... read more
Read our FAQ on the current situation in eastern DRC
A new rebellion against the Congolese government was launched in April 2012 in eastern DRC. The insurgent group is known as the M23 and is thought to comprise around... read more
Angola | Company Due Diligence | Conflict Minerals | Democratic Republic of Congo | Equatorial Guinea | Laws and Frameworks | Libya | Publish What You Pay | Republic of Congo | Oil Gas and Mining | Conflict | Corruption
Click here for Global Witness comment Section 1502 rule
Global Witness initial response to SEC vote on Dodd Frank rules
Follow the conversation on #DoddFrank
Global Witness welcomes the long-overdue vote on... read more
Read a briefing document which discusses the cost of implementing Section 1502 of the Dodd Frank Act.
Version française
The cost to US industry of implementing Section 1502 of the Dodd Frank Act has been hotly debated... read more
20.08.2012 | Tokyo Sexwale and the DRC's Mr Grab
"A $150-million investment ties Tokyo Sexwale to a controversial Israeli businessman as he pulled off the "heist" of a prize mining asset in the DRC" - Mail & Guardian. Click here to read the article. read more
简体中文
A recent decree from Afghanistan’s President Karzai represents a major step forward in turning the government’s commitments to a transparent mining and petroleum sector into a reality. The ball is now in the... read more
08.08.2012 | World Politics Review: Despite Oil Deal, Obstacles to Sudan-South Sudan Reconciliation Remain
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
07.08.2012 | Gibson Guitars accepts hefty fine after investigation exposes sourcing of illegal timber
Gibson Guitars’ agreement to pay a $300,000 fine for its role in importing illegal timber from Madagascar is a major breakthrough in the fight to end the multi-billion dollar global trade in illicit wood, said Global... read more
Global Witness welcomes the announcement of an oil deal reached by Sudan and South Sudan, while stressing the need for the final text to ensure transparent implementation.
After more than two years of negotiations,... read more
25.04.2012 | Culture of secrecy around global land deals must be lifted to protect people and environment.
Read report
A new report today reveals how opening up the process around large-scale land deals in developing countries would benefit local communities, governments and business, and provides direction on how this can... read more
Afghan government must publish all oil and mining contracts and related documents ahead of key upcoming donor conference
To read the full report, Getting to Gold, click here.
برای دانلود متن کامل گزارش، اینجا را کلیک... read more
Recent pledges by the Liberian Government to enhance transparency and the involvement of civil society in its oil sector represent are a welcome step forward, says Global Witness today.
International interest in Liberia... read more
Read more about the campaign at www.globalwitness.org/dictatorscharter
Ahead of Thursday’s meeting of the European Parliament's Legal Affairs committee, Global Witness staged a parade of “dictators” in protest at plans... read more
Revelations in the Financial Times on 16th April have underlined concerns, first raised by Global Witness two years ago, that senior officials in Angola have attempted to make private profits from the impoverished... read more
Revelations in the Financial Times on 16th April have underlined concerns, first raised by Global Witness two years ago, that senior officials in Angola have attempted to make private profits from the impoverished... read more
16.04.2012 | Sentencing of former Nigerian politician highlights role of British and US banks in money laundering
Global Witness calls for a thorough investigation into HSBC, Barclays, Citibank and Abbey National (now owned by Santander) for their roles in the laundering of millions of pounds by James Ibori, former governor of... 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). ... read more
Today, the Southern District of New York sentenced Viktor Bout, also known as the Merchant of Death, to 25 years in prison, finally putting an end to his notorious career as a weapons trafficker. In November of last... read more
Global Witness welcomes news that the British regulator, the Financial Services Authority (FSA), has fined Coutts bank for failing to do enough to prevent corrupt funds from flowing through its accounts.
“This fine is... read more
Accountability | Casework | Democratic Republic of Congo | Business and Human Rights | Ending Impunity
Lire en français
Ottawa, 26 March 2012 – The Canadian Association Against Impunity (CAAI) has today filed an application with the Supreme Court of Canada on behalf of Congolese families. The families are seeking... read more
19.03.2012 | Congo’s legislators should enact sweeping reforms to the country’s natural resources sector
Conflict Minerals | Democratic Republic of Congo | Laws and Frameworks | Oil Gas and Mining | Industrial Forest Use
Lire en français
The recently-elected parliament of the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the new government, should make wide-ranging changes to how mineral, oil and forest resources are managed, said Global Witness in... read more
16.03.2012 | UK oil company announces workplan to explore in Congo’s UNESCO World Heritage site after pressure from Global Witness
Lire en français
Global Witness reveals previously unpublished exploration permitsA London-listed FTSE250 oil company, SOCO International, has announced plans to press ahead with oil exploration in Africa’s oldest... read more
(Paris, February 27, 2012) – UNESCO’s governing executive board should abolish a prize named after and funded by President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea at its upcoming meeting, seven civil society... read more
Washington DC/ London, February 16, 2012: The Task Force on Financial Integrity and Economic Development (TF) welcomes moves to tackle tax dodging announced by the global body charged with fighting financial crime (... read more
A fair and transparent arrangement for sharing and monitoring the revenues from Sudan's oil fields should be a top priority for negotiators from north and south Sudan who begin talks today on what will happen if... read more
21.06.2010 | Letter to Madagascar's government calling for measures to protect remaining rosewood forests
Global Witness and the EIA have written to Madagascar's incoming Minister for Enviroment and Forests to alert them to the urgent need for measures to protect the country's rosewood forests from illegal logging. Download... read more
14.06.2010 | Return of the Blood Diamond: The deadly race to control Zimbabwe's new-found diamond wealth
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... read more
A letter from the Task Force on Financial Integrity and Economic Development to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) ahead of the FATF's June 2010 plenary meeting in The Hague. read more
Governance is key to REDD+. Through internationally agreed principles, safeguards and standards, a roadmap for progress towards the good governance required for successful REDD+ will be developed. Importantly, it will... read more
03.06.2010 | Satellite image of camp in area of North Darfur thought to be under exploration for oil
Global Witness has obtained images appearing to show evidence of oil exploration in Sudan's northern Darfur region. This image shows a camp in the region in question. Oil wealth could provide an incentive for... read more
28.05.2010 | Letter in support of Lord Lester's libel reform bill
Lord Lester has proposed a Private Members Bill on defamation which incorporates many of the previous government's recommendations for the rebalancing of England's libel laws back in favour of the public interest and... read more
On 21st May 2010, Global Witness published a press release urging Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to act swiftly to stem a growing tide of corruption and mismanagement in the country's forestry and mineral... read more
On 30th April 2010, the Cambodian Embassy published a press release challenging Global Witness to a public debate, in response to our criticism of the government's management of the country's natural resources. This... read more
10.05.2010 | Supporting documents for "Shifting Sand" report
These documents accompany and substantiate claims made in the report "Shifting Sand: how Singapore's demand for Cambodian sand threatens ecosystems and undermines good governance." The details of each is as follows:... read more
From 10 to 21 May 2010, the fourteenth meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA 14) of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) will take place in Nairobi, Kenya. The... read more
23.04.2010 | Open letter to Heads of State and Finance Ministers for G20 renews call for effective anti-money laundering framework
April 2010
To the Heads of State and Finance Ministers of the G20,
We wrote to the G20 last summer to ask that its Pittsburgh summit result in a strong and explicit statement on the need to fight corruption through more... read more
13.04.2010 | Open letter to Harriet Harman on libel reform
Dear Ms Harman,
Global Witness is extremely disappointed and concerned to hear that Jack Straw's move to reduce the success fees charged by libel lawyers... read more
*Public version - text modified*
Dear Sirs
Re: UK Government Response to the Joint Committee on Human Rights' First Report of Session 2009-10: Any of our business? Human rights and the UK private sector
Global Witness1... read more
CIVIL SOCIETY OPEN LETTER TO EUROPEAN COUNCIL PRESIDENT, EUROPEAN COMMISSIONERS AND 27 FOREIGN MINISTERS
Dear Council President,
Dear Commission President and Commissioners,
Dear Foreign Ministers,
Our ten... 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
05.02.2013 | We could end poverty if … David Cameron is right?
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
Rosie Sharpe, Senior campaigner, Global Witness
Investigations carried out by the Guardian, ICIJ and the BBC's Panorama programme into the ease with which anonymous shell companies can be used to move dirty money... read more
01.10.2012 | Mystery shopping exercise shows how easy it is to set up anonymous companies in the U.S. and UK
Originally posted on the Taskforce on Financial Integrity’s website here.
By Rosie Sharp
Rosie Sharp is a Senior Campaigner for Global Witness, a member of the Task Force Coordinating Committee.
You’re a criminal and... read more
Shell companies
Launderers Anonymous
A study highlights how easy it is to set up untraceable companies
Sep 22nd 2012 | NEW YORK | from The Economist
SHELL companies—which exist on paper only, with no real... read more
19.09.2012 | Blog from Global Witness' Stefanie Ostfeld: Dictators’ Riches Are Stolen at Home, But Banked in the West
This post first appeared on Freedom House's Freedom at Issue blog.
Corrupt dictators who take bribes and loot their treasuries are rightly condemned by governments and other observers in developed... read more
13.09.2012 | Business Insider: The Man Who Infiltrated Pablo Escobar's Cartel Explains What's Wrong With The Global Banking System
By Michael Kelley | Business Insider – Fri, Sep 7, 2012 12:56 PM EDT
Robert Mazur, the U.S. Customs special agent who led one of the most successful undercover operations in U.S. law enforcement... read more
By Tom Picken - read this blog on Reuters Trustlaw
International efforts to protect forests and the people that live in them have failed so badly that just 20 per cent of forest remains untouched by commercial activity... read more
Ahead of Thursday’s meeting of the European Parliament's Legal Affairs committee, Global Witness staged a parade of “dictators” in protest at plans to water down upcoming European laws to make oil, mining and timber... read more
Huffington Post blog written by Global Witness' Sudan and South Sudan Analyst, Dana Wilkins, available here. read more
This article was published in the Financial Times on 24th February 2011.
Read press advisory on this issue.
Don't make it easier for dictators to steal
By Anthea Lawson, head of Kleptocracy campaign
The world may... 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
03.02.2011 | Global Witness for The Times - British business simply can not afford a delay to the Bribery Act
Read this article on The Times website.
We are desperately trying to rebuild British business after the financial crisis. Against that backdrop, you would think that an update to archaic anti-bribery laws that brings... 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
05.11.2012 | Daily Telegraph - 'Land grab' as families are uprooted to make way for luxury resort that will host EU ministers
Cambodia | Laos | Land Deals
At least 500 people have been uprooted from their homes to make way for luxury villas where European Union foreign ministers, including William Hague, will stay during a summit in Laos on Monday, writes David Blair in... 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
Shell companies
Launderers Anonymous
A study highlights how easy it is to set up untraceable companies
Sep 22nd 2012 | NEW YORK | from The Economist
SHELL companies—which exist on paper only, with no real... read more
20.08.2012 | Tokyo Sexwale and the DRC's Mr Grab
"A $150-million investment ties Tokyo Sexwale to a controversial Israeli businessman as he pulled off the "heist" of a prize mining asset in the DRC" - Mail & Guardian. Click here to read the article. read more
18.11.2011 | Reuters Africa: South Sudan assertive on oil sales
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
Some donors do well, all donors can do better, writes Publish What You Fund. read more
Britain is being urged to help close down a legal loophole that lets financiers known as "vulture funds" use courts in Jersey to claim hundreds of millions of pounds from the world's poorest countries, write Greg Palast... read more
15.11.2011 | BBC: Call for greater aid transparency
A UK-based lobby group is calling for more transparency in the spending of global development aid, estimated to be worth about $150bn (£93bn), writes BBC's Mark Doyle. read more
Clariden Leu AG, with roots that make it Switzerland's oldest private bank, has begun telling certain U.S. customers suspected of offshore tax evasion that it will disclose their names to the U.S. Internal Revenue... read more
06.09.2011 | Wall St Journal - SocGen deals eyed by Libya
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
A major international anti-corruption provision in the Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation remains stalled at the Securities and Exchange Commission, a year after the bill was passed by Congress and three months... 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
British firms have acquired more land in Africa for controversial biofuel plantations than companies from any other country, write Damian Carrington and Stefano Valentino. 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
Rosie Sharpe, Senior campaigner, Global Witness
Investigations carried out by the Guardian, ICIJ and the BBC's Panorama programme into the ease with which anonymous shell companies can be used to move dirty money... read more
From the Daily Mail
ENRC has resolved not to buy mineral rights via controversial middlemen who campaign groups say pose an appearance or risk of corruption, the Mail understands.
Chairman Mehmet Dalman has taken an... read more
08.08.2012 | World Politics Review: Despite Oil Deal, Obstacles to Sudan-South Sudan Reconciliation Remain
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
18.05.2012 | Caixin: Big Oil on Edge as U.S. Requires Disclosure
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
Global Witness has long campaigned for companies to come clean about who actually owns them. In most countries in the world individuals can legally disguise their identities and their assets behind anonymous shell... read more
Diamonds worth hundreds of millions of dollars are due to be put on sale on Friday by a joint Chinese-Zimbabwean company with strong military ties. The auction follows last month's decision by the industry watchdog... 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
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
Back in 2009 it was heralded as a potential model for reducing rates of deforestation and REDD+ but Nowary's deal with Guyana appears to have made little progress, writes Girish Gupta. read more
What we're reading
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