The role of development policy in transforming the extractive industries of developing countries to promote the involvement of civil society and sustainable development will be the focus of the European Parliament’s Committee on Development (DEVE) on Wednesday 30 August. The draft report by Ireland’s Barry Andrews (Renew Europe) will guide the debate.
It calls on the European Commission to strengthen its dialogue and cooperation with civil society, local communities and indigenous peoples in the developing countries concerned in order to promote their rights and ensure their meaningful participation in decision-making processes, in particular those concerning the flagship projects of the EU’s ‘Global Gateway’ investment strategy. The rapporteur believes that civil society stakeholders should be formally represented on the Global Gateway governance board (see EUROPE 13132/21).
The EU, for its part, would be invited to support capacity-building in developing countries aimed at consolidating their legal and regulatory frameworks relating to the extractive industries, in particular measures to increase governance and transparency, to combat corruption, tax fraud and evasion and illicit financial flows, to improve labour, human rights and environmental standards and to strengthen the application of legislation.
The draft report calls on the Commission to present an EU code of conduct on responsible investment in the extractive industries of developing countries for companies and development finance institutions.
This code of conduct would have as its primary objective local consultation, local consent and local sustainable development and would contain commitments concerning: - stakeholder participation; - proactive communication of information on the environmental, social and governance aspects of projects, and publication of contracts; - human rights issues (use of forced and child labour, workers’ rights, forced displacement, discrimination, rights of indigenous peoples, health and safety); - environmental performance and impact; - conservation and biodiversity.
Furthermore, the rapporteur believes that the EU should encourage the mobilisation of national resources in partner countries, such as direct taxation, in order to increase their budgetary room for manoeuvre to facilitate sustainable development. Its draft report also calls on the Commission and Member States to commit to increasing funding, in parallel with the European regulation on critical raw materials.
At the multilateral level, Mr Andrews suggests that the Commission propose a G20 initiative such as financial support, debt assistance and capacity building in governance, taxation and the fight against corruption, to ensure that the extractive industries work towards sustainable local development.
It also recommends that the EU develop partnerships with developing countries and support the implementation of the African Union’s ‘Africa Mining Vision’.
The draft report: https://aeur.eu/f/8d1 (Original report in French by Aminata Niang)