Pages tagged with "Governments"
The subject of the UK’s first unexplained wealth order has been revealed as Zamira Hajiyeva, the wife of the former chairman of a state-owned bank in Azerbaijan.
The doors of Europe are open to criminals and the corrupt, thanks to lax, opaque, and mismanaged ‘Golden Visa’ schemes, according to a report released today by Transparency International and Global Witness.
Following the resignation of the Prime Minister of Pakistan over Panama Papers verdict, our blog shows how his family used anonymous companies
How the corrupt spend their money in the UK, and what the government needs to do about it.
As Donald Trump becomes America's 45th President, we look at how he's following the rule book used by corrupt leaders around the world.
Sadiq Khan’s inquiry into the impact of foreign investment in London’s property market is welcome news and underscores the need for May’s new government to reaffirm its commitment to bring in legislation to tackle the problem.
On December 8, Global Witness filed an amicus brief, joined by Free Speech for People, with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, explaining why corporations do not have a constitutional right to conceal whether their products contain minerals that may have benefitted armed groups in Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). To learn more, read our blog here.
More than forty Afghan and international organizations warned David Cameron and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani that Afghanistan’s trillion dollar natural resource sector could fund conflict and humanitarian crises if not governed properly, days before the duo host the first major international conference on Afghanistan since its new government was elected.
Global Witness welcomes the appointment of Matthew Hancock MP as the government’s new Anti-corruption Champion. “It’s great news that the UK’s fight against global corruption has its own champion - it’s badly needed. Matthew Hancock’s to-do list is going to be a long one,” said Global Witness Executive Director Gavin Hayman.
"Africa's minerals, precious stones and other commodities should have brought better lives for African people. But for decades these trades have funded and fuelled some of the continent's most brutal wars. More transparent trading is critical. This EU proposal is a landmark opportunity to break the link between minerals, modern consumer appliances, and violence. Companies must be required to have clear processes to ensure their mineral purchases support peace, justice, and growth," said Olusegun Obasanjo.
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 freedom of speech.
The Dutch Supreme Court has overturned a 2008 ruling by the Court of Appeal which cleared businessman Guus Kouwenhoven of charges of involvement in illegal arms deals and war crimes during the civil war in Liberia between 2000 and 2003. The Court of Appeal will now have to re-examine the case and bring a new judgment. Global Witness, which first documented the involvement of Kouwenhoven in illegal logging and arms trafficking in its 2001 report, Taylor Made, welcomed the court's decision.
I was delighted to see Simon Singh's victory at the Court of Appeal last week, after a massively expensive, two-year fight to defend his right to contest the scientific opinion of the British Chiropractic Association. As he noted himself, the fact that the judges "endorsed the view that a so-called comment defence should be adequate for scientific and other articles on matters of public interest" made happy reading for all those wishing to see some common sense brought to bear on the UK's libel laws.
Global Witness today joined leading anti-censorship and press freedom bodies, including Index on Censorship and the Media Legal Defence Initiative, together with all of Europe's leading newspaper publishers, in urging the European Court of Human Rights to define the right to privacy more narrowly so it cannot be used to suppress investigative NGOs and journalists writing on subjects of public interest.
*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
Jack Straw's proposed reforms to the UK's libel laws herald a much-needed change in approach to freedom of speech in the UK. They also represent a victory for the Libel Reform Campaign, of which Global Witness is a member.
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,
Global Witness welcomes Jack Straw's long-overdue decision to slash the fees charged by libel lawyers working on a ‘no-win, no-fee' basis.
A report by the Culture, Media and Sport committee on press standards, privacy and libel makes broadly sensible recommendations but does not go far enough to allay well-founded fears that England's laws are a barrier to public-interest campaigning by non-governmental organisations (NGOs), said Global Witness today.
