13 February 2012
Campaigners from anti-poverty groups ONE, Tearfund and CAFOD today sent an early Valentine’s Day message to newly appointed minister Norman Lamb by carrying a giant love heart with the message “love truth” to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. The groups, part of the Publish What You Pay Coalition, are raising awareness of a new law that would force oil, gas and mining companies to tell the truth about payments they make to governments of poor countries in return for their natural resources.
The proposed law, currently being debated by European leaders, would put an end to the secrecy that allows unscrupulous leaders to siphon-off the profits they make from natural resources instead of investing in vital services that will benefit the people of their country. If spent well, profits from natural resource revenues could lift hundreds of millions of people out of poverty.
Norman Lamb MP, who was appointed to the Government as a minister in the Department of Business following the resignation of Chris Huhne, will join ministers from around Europe in Brussels next week, 20th February, to discuss the proposed law for the first time.
Claire Hazelgrove, UK Campaigns Manager, from ONE said:
“Honesty and openness is the key to any good relationship, even more so between business and governments. Revenues from natural resources should be going into vital services like schools, health clinics and roads that could help lift hundreds of millions out of poverty, not into the pockets of a few corrupt leaders. It is a trillion dollar scandal that is denying millions the chance to escape poverty.”
Ben Niblett, Head of Campaigns at Tearfund said:
“We need to see robust laws in place that will unearth the truth on what companies pay to the governments of countries where they operate. Truth and transparency must be at the heart of corporate accountability if poor communities are to benefit from the resources they literally live on top of.”
In just five days over 39,000 ONE members have signed up to call on European leaders to end the secret deals. Since May 2011 over 20,000 Tearfund supporters have called on the UK Government and MEPs to ‘Unearth the Truth’ on corruption in the extractive industry. Others can join the campaign at: http://one.org/c/international/actnow/3835/ or sign up to Tearfund’s Unearth the Truth campaign at www.tearfund.org/unearth.
Notes to editors:
For further information please contact:
Katherine Sladden, ONE katherine.sladden@one.org / 07584 470 644 or
Jonathan Spencer, Tearfund, jonathan.spencer@tearfund.org / 020 8943 7901 or 07767 473516
Further images available on request.
The European Commission has proposed an EU-wide transparency law to shed light on the payments oil, gas and mining companies make to the governments where they operate. This would empower citizens with the information they need to hold their leaders accountable for money received. In 2010 Africa’s natural resources were worth $333 billion.
Minister Norman Lamb MP, will join ministers from around Europe at EU Competitiveness Council on 20 February to discuss the proposed law for the first time.
The move by Europe is in line with the US Dodd-Frank Act which sets out that all US listed extractive industry companies should publish their payments to governments. This month will see the final rules implementing Dodd-Frank published in the United States.
The stunt was timed to coincide with the board meeting of the EITI (The Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative) at Wilton Park, Sussex on 14 and 15 February. Attendees include representatives from Shell, Chevron, Exxonmobil, and BP.
Campaigners in the US will also be taking action this week as part of the Publish What You Pay Coalition.
CAFOD is the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development. We work with communities in 40 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America, working to fight poverty and injustice. The agency works with all people regardless of race, gender, religion or nationality. www.cafod.org.uk
ONE is a global advocacy and campaigning organisation backed by more than 2.5 million people from around the worlddedicated to fighting extreme poverty and preventable disease, particularly in Africa. For more information please visit www.ONE.org
Tearfund is a Christian relief and development agency building a global network of local churches to help eradicate poverty. Tearfund is a member of the Disasters Emergency Committee. www.tearfund.org
For media enquires only, please contact our media team:
For media enquiries only, please contact our media team:
Mobile: 07710 573 749 (including out of hours)
Landline: 0208 943 7986 (office hours only)
Note that our press releases often have the contact details of the media officer working on that story at the bottom.
If you're not a journalist but have a general question about our work please call our Supporter Enquiries team on 0845 355 8355 or use our online form.