Fatal Transactions: Latest News

Declaration of the Fatal Transactions Network

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 12:21:58 GMT

After more than a decade of successful collaboration, we, the members of the Fatal Transactions network, will end our cooperation as a network to continue our joint work on preventing conflicts around extractive industries within other structures. Our final Fatal Transactions newsletter provides more information about our decision, about new European networks and about the most important FT activities of the last ten years.

This website will stay online for another year, until February 2013, to allow interested readers access to information contained therein.

Communique of the KP Civil Society Coalition meeting in Brussels

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 12:32:34 GMT

Communique of the KP Civil Society Coalition meeting in Brussels, 18-19 November 2011

You can download the pdf file here.

Kimberley Process lets Zimbabwe off the hook (again)

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 09:56:03 GMT

The Kimberley Process (KP) has thrown away its main point of leverage over the Zimbabwean government by allowing it to export diamonds from the controversial Marange region without first fulfilling previous commitments to reform its diamond trade, said the Kimberley Process Civil Society Coalition of NGOs today.
"The Kimberley Process has effectively given up on Zimbabwe," said Alfred Brownell, President of Green Advocates, Liberia. "KP member governments and the diamond industry seem ready to turn their back on the interests of Zimbabwe's citizens, the public good and the principles on which the Kimberley Process was founded."

Zimbabwe’s Diamonds and Human Rights – Putting the Kimberley Process to test

Tue, 20 Sep 2011 11:07:44 GMT

As part of BICC´s engagement within the Kimberley Process, BICC, together with Heinrich Böll foundation organizes a round table discussion on the challenges arising from the situation in the Zimbabwean diamond sector.

See the invitation (pdf)

Vote of no confidence of Kimberley Process Civil Society Coalition at Kinshasa meeting - Press release

Fri, 24 Jun 2011 11:19:27 GMT

Activist organisations today expressed a vote of no confidence in the Kimberley Process, and walked out of the scheme’s meeting in Kinshasa, in protest at its failure to address human rights abuses associated with the diamond trade.

Joint EURAC/ FT statement: EURAC and Fatal Transactions call for the EU to step up engagement on conflict minerals

Wed, 27 Apr 2011 10:39:52 GMT

In July 2010 the US Congress passed the Dodd Frank Act, containing amendments on ‘conflict minerals’ from the Great Lakes region. The legislation came over a decade after the UN Security Council first expressed its concerns over the links between mineral exploitation and conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). This dynamic, which extends beyond the DRC’s borders, complicates efforts towards peace-building and security sector reform in the east of the country.

EURAC and Fatal Transactions urge the European Union and the member states to take action at numerous levels: encouraging EU companies trading in certain minerals to undertake adequate due diligence; support to certification and mapping efforts on the ground in eastern DRC; the reinforcement of Congolese state capacities to administer the mining sector; and support programs aimed at increasing socio-economic benefits from mining at community level.

Read the statement (pdf) ….

ECOS oil conference in Southern Sudan and new reports: Sudan's oil industry after the referendum

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 14:05:26 GMT

On 7 to 8 December 2010, the European Coalition on Oil in Sudan (ECOS)/Fatal Transactions and the Sudan Council of Churches held the conference “Sudan's Oil Industry after the Referendum” in Juba, Southern Sudan. One month before the Referendum for self-determination of Southern Sudan, at the time when the Government of Southern Sudan was finalizing its future Petroleum Policy, this conference took place at a suitable moment and gave the opportunity of a public debate about oil among a large group of stakeholders.

The conference adopted a final declaration that summarized the main shared concerns of the participants.

In addition, ECOS/Fatal Transactions published two reports on Post-Referendum Arrangements for Sudan’s Oil Industry.

Fatal Transactions criticizes: European strategy to secure access to raw materials will harm Africa

Fri, 28 Jan 2011 13:59:46 GMT

Today, the European Commission was to publish a new Communication challenges of future access to minerals and raw materials for its industry. The publication of the communication was surprisingly held back due to still ongoing negotiations among EU member states. The international campaign Fatal Transactions appeals to the European Commission to develop a strategy that will not be at the cost of the socio-economic development of raw materials exporting countries in Africa.

Download the full press release

Press release: Conflict diamond scheme must resolve Zimbabwe impasse

Mon, 08 Nov 2010 10:14:33 GMT

The Kimberley Process (KP) rough diamond certification scheme must reach a credible agreement with the Government of Zimbabwe regarding the export of stones from the controversial Marange region, the KP Civil Society Coalition said today.
The Kimberley Process annual plenary meeting in Jerusalem ended without agreement on Marange following four days of negotiations.

Open letter to Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan: End oil theft and make history

Mon, 25 Oct 2010 10:19:50 GMT

Ahead of upcoming presidential elections in 2011, Uche Igwe urges President Goodluck Jonathan to step up efforts to end oil theft in the Niger Delta. Uche Igwe is the Civil Society Liaison Officer at the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) and Africa Policy Scholar Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington DC, USA.

Fatal Transactions submits comment on Raw Materials Initiative at EU Commission

Fri, 24 Sep 2010 15:58:49 GMT

In its submission, Fatal Transactions calls for coherence between EU development policy and the EU's need for undistorted access to raw materials in order to create win-win situations, referring to measures foreseen under the first of three pillars of the Raw Materials Initiative: (1) ensure access to raw materials from international markets under the same conditions as other industrial competitors.

The development of a concrete framework for how the trade dimension of the Raw Materials Initiative is to apply to developing countries should be treated as a priority. For that purpose, the European Commission should develop a more systematic approach, clearly defining the grounds on which the EU will refrain from imposing bans on restrictions on supply of raw materials. Dealing in raw materials sourced from parts of the world that are politically or economicaly unstable also implicates responsibilities and duties for the EU, which is not sufficiently reflected in the current version of the Raw Materials Initiative.

Civil Society Coalition Calls for a New Compensation Body to Address Oil Spills in the Niger Delta

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 10:10:09 GMT

Fatal Transactions as part of a Civil society coalition has called for active measures to address oil spills and environmental degradation in the Niger Delta, which has been engulfed by violent conflict over the past decade. BP’s Gulf of Mexico disaster has heightened international concerns about the environmental dangers of offshore drilling around the world and led to President Obama declaring it America’s “environmental 9/11”. This oil spill has been correctly identified as a massive emergency and it is time to recognise that the ongoing oil spills, conflict and human rights abuses in the Niger Delta should also be acknowledged as an emergency demanding a concerted international response.

Diamond meeting ends without consensus on Zimbabwe Serious challenges ahead for landmark certification scheme, say NGOs

Fri, 25 Jun 2010 09:07:17 GMT

The lack of consensus among Kimberley Process (KP) certification scheme members over whether Zimbabwe can resume diamond exports from the troubled Marange area was welcomed by the KP civil society coalition today as the ‘least bad’ outcome. The scheme’s annual meeting in Tel Aviv broke up without agreement after through-the-night talks.

The Marange diamond fields have been plagued with violence over recent years. A joint work plan was agreed last year between the Kimberley Process and the Zimbabwean government, which aimed at bringing Zimbabwe back into line with the scheme’s minimum requirements. Almost no progress has been made on key aspects of this plan, including smuggling and demilitarisation of the diamond fields. Despite this, a number of governments supported a resumption of exports at this week’s meeting.

Campaigners denounce effort to silence whistle-blower before international meeting on conflict diamonds

Fri, 25 Jun 2010 08:57:13 GMT

The Zimbabwe authorities should immediately release Farai Maguwu, a prominent activist who reported abuses in Zimbabwe's notorious Marange diamond fields, the Kimberley Process Civil Society Coalition said today.

The call coincided with a June 21 meeting in Tel Aviv of the Kimberley Process (KP), an international government-led certification scheme established to prevent the trade in blood diamonds.

ECOS report: UNPAID DEBT. The Legacy of Lundin, Petronas and OMV in Sudan, 1997-2003

Fri, 18 Jun 2010 08:52:51 GMT

ECOS calls for Oil Company Investigation Over Sudanese Human Rights Abuses Fatal Transactions member IKV/Pax Christi, as part of a group of aid agencies that worked in Sudan during the civil war, reporting together as the European Coalition on Oil in Sudan (ECOS), has called for an investigation into the role played by a consortium of oil companies in the conflict and their possible complicity in the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Rights groups express outrage at state persecution of Zimbabwean activists

Fri, 04 Jun 2010 09:56:16 GMT

UPDATE (04/06/2010):
Farai Maguwu, director of the Centre for Research and Development (CRD) from Zimbabwe, has been detained by Zimbabwean police since June 3, 2010. Last September, we published his plea to suspend Zimbabwe from the Kimberley Process.

The state-sponsored harassment and intimidation of the Zimbabwean Centre for Research and Development (CRD), which has exposed ongoing human rights abuses in Zimbabwe’s Marange diamond fields, must stop. The monitoring arrangement of the Kimberley Process with Zimbabwe should be suspended.

New publication: Zgubne Transakcje. Fatal Transactions

Mon, 19 Apr 2010 09:24:01 GMT

D. Kopiński, A. Polus (eds.), 2010, Zgubne Transakcje. Fatal Transactions, Difin: Warszawa.

"China's quest for African resources: the new scramble or strategic partnership": Successful International Conference and Winter School at the University of Wroclaw, Poland, December 2009

Mon, 19 Apr 2010 09:14:35 GMT

An International Conference and a Winter School at the University of Wroclaw, Poland, December 2009, question the nature of China’s engagement in the international extractives sector

Move of FT International Secretariat

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 10:18:08 GMT

From January 1st 2010 onwards, the International Secretariat of the network will no longer be hosted by Niza/ActionAid, Netherlands.

Another member of the Fatal Transactions network, the Bonn International Center for Conversion (BICC) in Germany, takes over the coordination of the network.

New Dossier Online: Uranium Mining in Africa

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 16:21:16 GMT

A new dossier is available on the Fatal Transactions website: "Uranium Mining in Africa". The dossier describes the ins and outs of uranium mining and milling in Africa as well as the potential impact of uranium mining. In addition it discusses the links with the European Union and what the EU can do to promote uranium sustainable mining.