Right now, some of the world’s biggest oil companies are fighting to keep some very big secrets.
My country - like most of Africa - is rich in resources. Equatorial Guinea is blessed with oil. But more than 70% of our people live in extreme poverty - even with this multi-billion dollar treasure. Why? Because oil companies make secret deals with our governments, enabling corrupt leaders to put billions into their own pockets.
Two years ago, you helped win a hard fought battle to make sure that these companies - by law - must reveal what they pay. But now, oil company lobbyists are pressuring the Securities and Exchange Commission to secretly kill the best parts of the law and keep these deals hidden.
Tell the SEC to put an end to these closed door deals once and for all.
The petition reads:
Dear SEC Commissioners,
Please do not give in to industry pressures on Section 1504 of the Dodd-Frank Act (the Cardin-Lugar Amendment) - and make sure that ALL companies are covered, every country and every project gets reported, and loopholes that would allow large sums of money to go unreported are closed.
I was born and grew up in a dictatorship. That’s why I’ve spent much of my life fighting corruption. I’ve seen friends beaten. I’ve seen people jailed for calling out their leaders. And I know Africans can’t win this fight alone.
When the US Congress passed the Cardin-Lugar Amendment in 2010 (with help from ONE, Publish What You Pay and EG Justice), it was a big step forward in combating corruption. When we can see what our governments are paid, we can make sure money is spent saving lives and building schools, not lining the pockets of the politically powerful.
We’ve got to make sure that when the SEC acts (rumor has it they're doing this very soon), big oil companies don’t change the rules behind our backs.
Click the link below to automatically add your name and tell the SEC not to let big oil win:
http://act.one.org/go/302?akid=2872.2104839.Pd3Jix&t=4
Corruption deprives nations of their future. Let’s put an end to this outrage today.
-Tutu Alicante, ONE member and founder of EG Justice
Many thanks to the more than 60,000 ONE members that have signed our petition calling on the German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the French President Nicolas Sarkozy to keep their promise to the world’s poor.
Earlier this month ONE members – and current interns – Anne and Katrin handed the long list of signatures (burnt on a CD) over to the Federal Chancellery and the FDP headquarters in Berlin.
You can see more photos on facebook.
Even though our petition continues we wanted to hand the signatures over before an important EU summit– in case the financial transactions tax (or FTT for short) was discussed.
It’s been a busy few weeks for the campaign. Prior to the summit President Sarkozy announced that France will charge a tax of 0.1% on financial transactions. German opposition leader Sigmar Gabriel demanded: “We need to see deeds.” According to a spokesperson of finance minister Schäuble, however, the government does not want to follow Sarkozy’s approach, at least not for now. Instead the existing proposal by the European Commission, which is more extensive, will be further examined. In fact, the President Sarkozy’s FTT allows certain exceptions, which is why some French NGOs consider the tax to be inadequate.
That means our French colleagues and the team here in Germany have to keep pushing for a FTT against poverty! The campaign continues – we’ll keep you up to date.
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