This Report reviews how select countries have engaged with multistakeholder initiatives to develop and promote responsible business conduct standards for the extractive industries. It features the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights, the International Code of Conduct for Private Security Service Providers, and the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, and compares whether and to what extent the countries under review have picked up the different initiatives.

About this Report Series

This Report is the third in a series reviewing measures that ‘home governments’ (where companies are legally registered) can use to incentivise responsible business conduct of extractive companies operating abroad. ‘Host governments’ (where the company is operating) have the primary responsibility to regulate the activities of businesses operating in their territory. But where such regulation is lacking or not enforced, clear incentives set by their home governments can provide one of the few avenues for prompting responsible business conduct.

The examples provided in this report series can serve as models for policy makers charged with regulating the extractive or other sectors with similar footprints, provide civil society and other stakeholders with information about tools for promoting greater corporate accountability, and stimulate further debate on the efficiency and effectiveness of such measures.

 

Image: Flickr/unefunge

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