A Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)-backed global coalition that works for revenue transparency in the oil, gas and mining industries has been honored by a development agency.
Publish What You Pay is a campaign that includes more than 600 faith, human rights and development groups working in more than 70 countries to combat corruption in extractive industries and to demand government accountability for responsible resource use. The PC(USA) joined the coalition in 2008 by action of the 218th General Assembly.
On Dec. 1, PWYP was awarded the Commitment to Development "Ideas in Action" Award from the Center for Global Development and Foreign Policy magazine.
The award recognizes PWYP's role this year in promoting the passage of the Cardin-Lugar Transparency Provision of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. This provision requires all oil, gas and mining companies registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to publish how much they pay to foreign countries and the U.S. government.
"The call for companies to "publish what you pay" and for governments to "publish what you earn" is a necessary first step towards a more accountable system for the management of natural resource revenues. If companies disclose what they pay, and governments disclose their receipts of such revenues, then members of civil society in resource-rich countries will be able to compare the two and thus hold their governments accountable for the management of this valuable source of income," reads PWYP's website.
A July news release from the Presbyterian Hunger Program quotes Isabel Munilla, executive director of the U.S. PWYP campaign: "The Presbyterian Church has been fundamental to the success of the Publish What You Pay campaign in the U.S. Its support gave our campaign credibility and the work of the hunger networks helped ground our efforts in the needs of real people struggling with the impact of the resource curse."
Information furnished by a news release from the Center for Global Development.