Mike Hancock News
Local MP fights corruption and poverty by joining campaign for oil and mining transparency
Mike Hancock, MP has joined the Publish What You Pay coalition and ONE campaign in the fight against corruption in developing countries by supporting measures to require extractive companies to disclose their payments to governments for oil, gas and minerals.
Two thirds of the world's poorest people live in countries rich in natural resources. These natural resources could generate vital revenues to serve as a basis for economic growth and poverty reduction. However, opacity around the extraction of resources has led to widespread corruption and mismanagement of revenues. Lifting this veil of secrecy is critical to ensuring that natural resource revenues are used for the benefit of the population as a whole, and not just by a powerful few.
Mike Hancock MP met international experts in Westminster, including author and foreign correspondent Michela Wrong and representatives of the Publish What You Pay campaign, to discuss how transparency in these industries can bring about poverty reduction.
Mike Hancock said: "It is a tragedy that, despite billions of dollars of incoming revenues from oil, gas and mining extraction, people living in resource rich countries around the world remain steeped in poverty.
"I am joining the call to oil, gas and mining companies to "publish what you pay" so that governments manage these revenues effectively and use them to stimulate economic growth and reduce poverty."
Radhika Sarin, International Coordinator of the Publish What You Pay campaign added: "Small changes to the UK's financial rules on what companies should disclose would shed light on billions of dollars in payments from oil and mineral companies to governments. Citizens would then be able to hold their governments to account for the use of that money."
Notes:
For more details about the campaign, please see http://www.publishwhatyoupay.org/
Publish What You Pay is an international coalition of over 600 NGOs working in over 50 countries, calling for the mandatory disclosure of the payments made by oil, gas and mining companies to all governments for the extraction of natural resources and the resulting revenues earned by resource-rich country governments. The coalition also calls for the disclosure of licensing arrangements and extractive industry contracts.
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