On April 26, the XXVI Meeting of the Civil Society Roundtable for Transparency in the Extractive Industries was held in Bogota, with the participation of delegations that are part of the roundtable at the national level.
The meeting began with a presentation by Noel Murray (executive director of Directorio Legislativo) of the “Joining The Dots” project, which seeks to explore information on the assets of public officials; public contracting; and tenders in the extractive sector, in order to identify possible conflicts of interest, corruption or improper use of public office. Murray was accompanied by Mark Robinson, EITI executive director, and Francisco París, EITI director for Latin America and the Caribbean.
This presentation, in addition to the participation of the Mesa’s social organizations, included interventions by Claudia Báez, a journalist from Cuestión Pública, and the data expert organization Datasketch, who positively valued the effort of cross-checking data to find possible conflicts of interest of public officials in the extractive sector. A webcast of this presentation can be found on the Bureau’s Facebook page.
Subsequently, a panel was held on the progress of the Subnational EITI, in which the Technical Secretariat of EITI Colombia presented the current status of the implementation of the EITI standard in the prioritized territories: Boyacá, Casanare, Cesar and Santander. On the civil society side, ABC Colombia and the CSIR Cesar participated, commenting on the views from their territories on the processes being carried out in the formation of the local committees.
Francisco París, for his part, highlighted the role of civil society in the EITI standard validation process that Colombia will begin in the second half of the year. “You are going to be consulted, that’s part of the spirit of the standard. There will be many opportunities to hear your voice in the validation. And the best of luck for Colombia to do justice to your efforts,” he said.
Presentations were also made on the Anti-Corruption Legal Advice Center (ALAC) and the initiative on whistleblowing and whistleblower protection in the context of extractive sector operations, by the Transparency for Colombia corporation.
The meeting culminated with an intervention by the organizations representing civil society before the National Tripartite Committee, which, together with the government and the private sector, coordinates actions for the continuation of the work within the framework of the EITI initiative. These are Crudo Transparente, Fundación Atabaque and Transparencia por Colombia.
The Civil Society Roundtable for Transparency in the Extractive Industries emerged in 2013 and currently brings together more than twenty social organizations and academic institutions from different parts of the country. Its objective is to seek higher levels of transparency and access to public information in the Colombian extractive sector.
