A new U.S. law that requires oil, gas and mining companies to report publicly their payments to third world governments is the most positive news the poorer parts of the world have had in many years. The requirement to Publish What You Pay will give independent radio stations and human rights organizations across Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and Asia more facts to expose the billions of dollars that oil giants like ExxonMobil and Chevron pay their governments. Here is my account in The Nation about this important step forward.
Regular visitors to this site may be interested to learn that the neo-conservative Paul Wolfowitz makes a guest appearance in the article — not as the manipulator who helped the Bush administration lie its way into the catastrophic invasion of Iraq, but in his next incarnation, as (briefly) president of the World Bank, where an African oil dictator played him for a complete sucker.
jeeze louise james, you could have blockquoted a tad of your excellent article for us, just for the hoot of it.
james, i was pleasantly surprised to hear this news, and wonder 1. why does the law only apply to energy and mining companies; and 2. how does this fit into the foreign corrupt practices act scheme and the OECD convention on combating bribery of foreign public officials … etc. etc. (i thought that companies that were subject to the FCPA and OECD convention, of which the US is a signatory, already had to maintain accountings and implement protocols for reporting their expenditures in foreign countries.)
It’s just a US law, so a lot of big companies will not be affected, but it is an excellent start.