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About the Organization

Global Witness investigates and campaigns to prevent natural resource-related conflict and corruption, and associated environmental and human rights abuses. Global Witness carries out hard-hitting investigations, exposes the facts, and pushess for change. Global Witness is independent, not-for-profit, and works with partners around the world in our fight for justice. 

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Powerful and corrupt exploiters of natural resources often funnel proceeds into war, conflict, and human rights abuses.

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Global Witness investigates problems at the intersection of conflict, corruption, and natural resource exploitation.

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The GW founders seek to end the business practices that make resources a curse instead of a blessing.

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Over the years their work has contributed to the successful expose' and prosecution of warlords such as Charles Taylor. Currently they're working to create public registries that end anonymous companies.

Ambition for Change

Financial transparency uncovers the flow of funds fueling conflict and corruption, making it difficult to continue these activities. 

Path to Scale

Build a movement, policy advocacy. Evidence from investigations and cases influences regulatory frameworks and legislation. Governments, industry leaders, and other actors are held accountable; human rights are respected and ordinary citizens benefit from natural resources. 

Skoll Awardee
Charmian Gooch

Co-Founder & Director, Global Witness

Patrick Alley

Co-Founder & Director, Global Witness

Simon Taylor is co-founder and director of Global Witness. He worked on Global Witness’s first investigation into how the illegal timber trade between Cambodia and Thailand was funding the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime, following which, he launched and led Global Witness’s oil and corruption campaign in December 1999, after investigating companies and elite groups involved in this sector. This began the global call for transparency around payments by companies to governments for natural resources, leading to Global Witness’s conception and co-launch of the Publish What You Pay (PWYP) campaign, which now consists of civil society organizations in over 40 countries worldwide. Simon has detailed expertise of natural resource-related corruption and extensive advocacy experience, and continues to be at the forefront of the push for a global standard of revenue transparency legislation, as well as being actively involved in Global Witness’s work to expose corruption in the sector. In addition, he is involved in the strategic leadership of the organization.

Charmian Gooch is co-founder and director of Global Witness. She jointly led Global Witness's first campaign, exposing the trade in timber between the Khmer Rouge and Thai logging companies and their political and military backers. Subsequently, Charmian developed and launched Global Witness’s campaign to combat ‘blood diamonds;’ Global Witness was nominated for the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize as a result of this work. In 2014 Charmian was awarded the TED Prize.

Patrick Alley is co-founder and director of Global Witness. Since posing as a timber buyer in Global Witness’s first investigation into the Thai-Khmer Rouge timber trade in 1995, Patrick has taken part in over fifty field investigations in South East Asia, Africa, and Europe and in subsequent advocacy activities. Patrick has focused on Global Witness’s campaigns on conflict resources, notably former Liberian President Charles Taylor’s ‘arms for timber’ trade, the minerals trade in Eastern DRC and more recently the Central African Republic, as well as providing strategic direction for Global Witness’ work on forest issues, especially challenging industrial scale logging and land grabbing in the tropics.

The three founders met while working at the environmental non-profit, the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA). All individually interested in Cambodia – then coming out of 30 years of civil war – they spent many hours in London's pubs discussing the political and military developments in-country. They learned from the press that the infamous Khmer Rouge guerrilla organization – then boycotting Cambodia’s UN brokered elections - was trading rainforest timber with Thailand. Given that the rainforests were being cut to fund a war, Patrick, Simon and Charmian asked themselves: “is that an environmental issue, or a human rights issue?” Shortly followed by: “Why doesn’t someone do something about that?” Then after a short pause – “Why don’t we?” And thus Global Witness became the first organization working on the nexus of natural resources and human rights issues.

Impact & Accomplishments

In one of the biggest corporate bribery trials in history, Royal Dutch Shell and Italian oil giant Eni have been ordered to stand trial in Milan on charges of aggravated international corruption for their role in a 2011 $1.1 billion deal for Nigerian oil block OPL 245. The trial is as a result of the work Global Witness had done over the past few years. Global Witness’ advocacy in close cooperation with local groups led to the arrests of the murderers of Honduran activist Berta Cáceres, who was shot in her home in March 2016. Officials linked to the Agua Zarca Dam—a project Berta had strongly opposed and campaigned against—were later charged and arrested for violating consultation rights for affected communities, and the main backers of the project, the Dutch and Finnish development banks, suspended their involvement. Global Witness has been working on responsible mineral sourcing for over a decade and, after years of campaigning, the EU Responsible Sourcing Regulation came into force in June 2017. Certain EU companies will, for the first time, be legally required to take responsibility for their mineral supply chains and to take steps to prevent their trade being linked to conflict or human rights abuses. The EU agreed to new rules to reveal the true owners of EU companies and trusts through the fifth EU Anti-Money Laundering Directive, which came into force in June 2018. The changes mean public disclosure of company ownership will become law in EU states. These new rules follow years of campaigning from Global Witness and its anti-corruption partners in Europe.  

Affiliated
Arianne Griffith
Campaign Strategy Lead, Corporate Accountability, Global Witness
Alice Harrison
Communications Advisor, Global Witness
Christine Oram
Director of Development, Global Witness
Charmian Gooch
Co-Founder & Director, Global Witness
Patrick Alley
Co-Founder & Director, Global Witness
Rachel Owens
Head of EU Office, Global Witness
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