WASHINGTON, Mar 21 2014 (IPS) - A major international initiative aimed at promoting transparency in the extractives industry is coming under harsh criticism for accepting an application from Ethiopia, despite significant ongoing legal restrictions on the country’s civil society.
The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), a standards programme based in Oslo, had declined a previous application for candidature from Ethiopia, in 2010. The previous year, the Ethiopian government had passed a law widely seen as repressive, and the EITI board stipulated that the country’s application would be deferred until that law was struck down.
“The simple fact is that the EITI process won’t be able to advance any improvements unless civil society is at the table and has a voice.” — Lisa Misol
“We’re very disappointed by this. If these people don’t follow the criteria, what’s the point of having criteria?” Obang Metho, executive director of the Solidarity Movement for a New Ethiopia, a Washington-based advocacy group, told IPS.
“Today it is impossible for civil society to function in Ethiopia, because of this bill. We can wait for years for changes, but as long as the current government is there I can’t foresee any tangible change. This decision [by EITI] is not going to be productive.”
The law in question is known as the Charities and Societies Proclamation (CSP). Ethiopia’s first comprehensive legislation to regulate the registration of civil society groups, the law places onerous restrictions on groups that receive more than 10 percent of their funding from foreign sources.
It also forbids organisations from engaging in a range of activities central to ensuring public oversight over the government and its officials. The United Nations has warned that the law has “devastating” ramifications for the ability of Ethiopians to effectively form and operate civil society organisations.
Such concerns are particularly relevant for EITI, which, since its founding in 2003, has offered a unique platform for cooperation between the extractives industry, government and civil society. Importantly, each of these elements is to receive equal voice within the EITI system, with the immediate aim of sector-specific transparency meant to translate into broader strengthening of good governance.
Thus, if the civil society component isn’t able to function effectively, the entire process would cease to function. That, anyway, was EITI’s own concern in 2010, when it rejected Ethiopia’s application – the first time the board had ever taken such an action.
The EITI “board concluded that Ethiopia’s [CSP] would prevent civil society groups from being sufficiently independent and meaningfully participate in the process,” Anthony Richter, a member of the EITI board, stated in 2010. “The board decided, in effect, not to admit Ethiopia ‘until the [CSP] is no longer in place’.”
The EITI board made another high-visibility decision on Wednesday, voting to accept the candidature application of the United States (as well as that of Papua New Guinea). Yet if EITI has gone back on its own rules, critics say, the standard’s important overall potential will have been weakened.
“Before this decision, EITI was a prominent global initiative, considered to be one of the leading efforts to increase transparency and give citizens a chance to have a voice in important matters in their countries,” Lisa Misol, a senior business and human rights researcher at Human Rights Watch (HRW), a watchdog group, told IPS.
“Now I think all governments need to ask themselves what’s the value of being part of an initiative that allows in a country that doesn’t allow its citizens to make any use of this transparency. Unfortunately, EITI has sacrificed its credibility and irreparably harmed its own reputation.”
Neutered criteria
EITI currently lists 26 countries as compliant with its standards, and another 18 countries, including Ethiopia and the United States, as candidates. In total, 35 countries have produced formal EITI reports over the past decade.
Yet the decision to move forward with and approve Ethiopia’s application during this week’s EITI meeting reportedly led to deep divisions in the group’s board. While the EITI secretariat did not respond to a query from IPS, it has been quick to note that acceptance of Ethiopia’s application to become a candidate country means that the Ethiopian government now has three years to come into full compliance with EITI’s standards.
“Some opposed this decision, but it should be remembered that becoming a candidate does not mean that any country has met the EITI Standard,” Clare Short, the EITI chair, said in a statement after the board’s meeting.
“In the case of Ethiopia, the decision shows that the Board was convinced by the government’s commitment to the EITI’s principles. Membership of the EITI will mean that all stakeholders, including civil society, will have a better platform to hold the government and the companies to account and ensure the better management of the burgeoning sector.”
For its part, the Ethiopian government states that it has already set up a national steering committee made up of government, industry and civil society representatives, and has begun a series of trainings on the EITI standards. Its most recent application, from October, also deals directly with concerns over the CSP.
“In our view, the proclamation is not meant to restrict the operation of the civil society,” an introductory letter, presumably written by Minister of Mines Sinknesh Ejigu, states, “rather to create conducive environment for their activities as well as ensure transparency and accountability, establish a legal framework for their operation.”
Yet critics are pushing back strongly against the suggestion that EITI will now have more leverage to effect positive change in Ethiopia.
“The simple fact is that the EITI process won’t be able to advance any improvements unless civil society is at the table and has a voice,” HRW’s Misol says.
“It’s shocking to me that the board of an initiative that values civic participation has just endorsed Ethiopia as a candidate when there is no ability to have a functioning civil society in that country. The moment of leverage was before joining Ethiopia to join the club – not once it’s in. In effect, EITI has now neutered its own civil society criteria.”
Ethiopia will now be required to submit its first formal report to EITI by March 2016.
Source: IPS News
Ethiopia’s application for ‘candidature’ approved
Wednesday, 19 March 2014 – 10:40am
The EITI Board: ensuring civil society engagement will be critical.
The international EITI Board accepted Ethiopia’s application for EITI candidature when it met in Oslo 19 March. Candidature is not a recognition of a country’s levels of transparency or accountability. As a Candidate, the country has three years to achieve compliance with the EITI Standard.
Clare Short said:
“I am pleased that the Board has decided to accept Ethiopia as an EITI Candidate country. Some opposed this decision, but it should be remembered that becoming a candidate does not mean that any country has met the EITI Standard. In the case of Ethopia, the decision shows that the Board was convinced by the government’s commitment to the EITI’s principles. Membership of the EITI will mean that all stakeholders, including civil society, will have a better platform to hold the government and the companies to account and ensure the better management of the burgeoning sector.”
In its discussions, the EITI Board stressed the importance of ensuring civil society engagement in Ethiopia’s efforts to comply with the EITI Standard. Some members of the Board argued that Ethiopia’s candidature application should not be accepted, and requested that their reservations be noted.
Tolesa Shagi, Ethiopian Minister of Mines, wrote to the Board to assure them that “the Ethiopian Government is highly committed to work with Civil Societies to ensure their engagement in the Ethiopian EITI”.
“The World Bank applauds the step Ethiopia has taken to engage on transparency issues,” said Paulo de Sa, Manager of the Gas, Oil, Mining Unit of the Sustainable Energy Department of the World Bank.
Over the past three years, the World Bank has worked closely with the Ethiopian government through an EITI Multi-Donor Trust Fund project that facilitated preparation for EITI candidacy. The focus of preparation was not only on the basics of revenue transparency, but also on capacity building and learning from experiences of other EITI implementing countries like Liberia and Tanzania.
The Board’s decision in full:
The EITI Board admits Ethiopia as an EITI Candidate country on 19 March 2014. In accordance with the EITI Standard and associated transitional arrangements, Ethiopia is required to publish its first EITI Report within two years of becoming a Candidate (by 19 March 2016). If the EITI Report is not published by this deadline, Ethiopia will be suspended. Validation will commence within three years of becoming a Candidate (by 19 March 2017). In accordance with requirement 1.6c, the MSG is required to publish an annual activity report for 2014 by 1 July 2015. The Board notes the concerns expressed by some stakeholders regarding potential obstacles to implementation such as legal barriers to implementation and capacity constraints in civil society. In accordance with requirement 1.4.c.i and 1.4.c.iii, the Board recommends that the MSG updates its workplan to include a detailed assessment and actions to address potential capacity constraints, as well as plans for addressing any legal, regulatory or administrative barriers to implementation identified in the ongoing legal review commissioned by the MSG.
For further information about EITI in Ethiopia, visit the country page on the EITI website. source ( http://ayyaantuu.com/horn-of-africa-news/in-accepting-ethiopia-transparency-group-sacrifices-credibility/ )
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