Global Witness

Global Witness is an international non-governmental organisation headquartered in London, with offices in Washington, D.C., and Brussels. It investigates how the exploitation and trade of natural resources can finance armed conflict, enable corruption, damage ecosystems and expose local communities and human-rights defenders to violence. Rather than operating as a conventional consumer-facing brand, Global Witness functions as a research, campaigning and advocacy organisation whose public identity is built around investigative reporting, evidence gathering and pressure for institutional reform. The organisation emerged from work on the illegal timber trade in Cambodia during the 1990s. Its investigations examined how timber was moved across borders while helping finance the Khmer Rouge and how political and business networks benefited from forest exploitation. This early work established a method that has remained central to Global Witness: combine field investigations with documentary evidence, identify the companies and officials involved, publish findings internationally and campaign for governments, banks and industry bodies to change their practices. Global Witness later expanded its focus to diamonds, oil, gas, mining, gold, cocoa and other commodities. Its campaign against conflict diamonds contributed to the creation of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, an international system requiring participating governments to certify rough-diamond shipments as conflict-free. The organisation also helped develop the Publish What You Pay movement and played a role in the creation of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, which promotes disclosure of payments and revenues in oil, gas and mining. These initiatives reflect its broader concern that secrecy around resource revenues and ownership allows public wealth to be diverted and abuses to remain hidden. The Democratic Republic of the Congo has been another major area of work. Global Witness has investigated how minerals from the country can support armed groups and has examined the responsibilities of companies whose supply chains connect them to conflict-affected regions. Its wider research has covered forest governance, land concessions, opaque corporate structures, beneficial ownership, financial institutions and the use of offshore or anonymous companies for corruption, money laundering, tax evasion and other illicit purposes. Environmental and human-rights defenders are a central focus of the organisation's recent campaigning. Global Witness documents killings and threats against people resisting land grabs, mining projects, industrial logging, pollution, dams and other forms of resource exploitation. It has reported a long-term rise in killings of environmental and land defenders, including 212 recorded deaths in 2019 and 227 in 2020. The organisation argues that the climate crisis cannot be addressed only through emissions policy: people affected by environmental destruction must have meaningful representation in decisions about climate, land and natural resources, and defenders must be protected from intimidation and violence. Global Witness also campaigns for transparency in political and financial systems. Its work on beneficial-ownership registers seeks to make it harder for individuals to hide assets and conflicts of interest behind shell companies. The organisation has engaged with financial-integrity networks, banking campaigns and anti-corruption coalitions, and has given evidence to policymakers about the role of Western financial institutions in handling proceeds linked to corruption. Its funding comes primarily from grants from foundations, governments and charitable organisations. Global Witness Trust is a registered UK charity supporting the organisation's work. The organisation has received support from bodies including the Open Society Institute, the Norwegian and British governments, the Adessium Foundation and Oxfam Novib. It has received international recognition for investigative activism and social entrepreneurship, including the Gleitsman Foundation Prize, the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship and other awards. Global Witness remains active as an investigative and campaigning NGO focused on accountability in resource industries, corporate ownership, finance and climate-related decision-making.

Global Witness was founded in the early 1990s by Patrick Alley, Simon Taylor and Charmian Gooch. Its first major campaign investigated the illegal timber trade in Cambodia, where timber exports connected to the Khmer Rouge and other political and commercial interests helped sustain conflict and deprived the country of public resources. The organisation's field-based reporting attracted international attention and demonstrated the value of tracing natural-resource transactions across borders rather than treating environmental damage, corruption and armed conflict as separate issues. During the late 1990s and early 2000s, Global Witness broadened its investigations to diamonds, oil, gas, minerals, forests and other commodities. Its work on conflict diamonds helped build political pressure for an international certification system. The Kimberley Process Certification Scheme was developed through negotiations involving diamond-producing states, industry participants and civil-society organisations, with Global Witness among the campaigners pressing for controls on rough-diamond shipments linked to armed conflict. The scheme was formally implemented in the early 2000s and required participating countries to certify eligible shipments. The organisation also became involved in campaigns concerning transparency in extractive industries. Global Witness helped establish the Publish What You Pay coalition and contributed to the development of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative. The EITI was announced at the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development and later received institutional support from the World Bank. Its purpose was to improve disclosure of payments made by oil, gas and mining companies and the revenues received by governments. Global Witness subsequently participated in EITI governance and advisory structures. Conflict minerals became another important strand of work. Research published in 2009 examined how mineral trading in the Democratic Republic of the Congo could finance armed groups and identified risks in the supply chains of companies operating in or sourcing from the region. Global Witness combined field research in the Great Lakes region with analysis of international corporate relationships, arguing that companies and governments outside conflict zones could still bear responsibility for the consequences of opaque sourcing. The organisation's forest work extended from Cambodia to other countries affected by illegal logging, unsustainable exploitation and contested land concessions. It has also examined forests and climate policy, including proposals associated with reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. Global Witness has warned that forest-carbon programmes can harm communities or facilitate misuse of funds unless civil society can independently monitor implementation and affected people have legal and political protections. From the late 2000s onward, Global Witness increasingly focused on financial secrecy and corporate ownership. Its campaigns against anonymous companies promoted public registers of beneficial owners and stronger controls on shell companies. The organisation argued that hidden ownership structures can conceal corruption proceeds, facilitate tax evasion, finance criminal activity and make it difficult to identify who benefits from land, mining and infrastructure transactions. It also engaged with banking and financial-integrity networks and provided evidence to policymakers about the movement of illicit funds through Western financial systems. Global Witness has continued to document threats and killings of environmental and land defenders. Its reporting has linked violence to disputes over mining, logging, plantations, land grabbing, pollution, dams and wildlife protection. By presenting these killings as part of a global accountability problem, the organisation has connected human-rights defence with climate and environmental policy. It campaigns for stronger protection of defenders and for the people most affected by climate and resource decisions to have a greater role in policymaking. The organisation's public profile has been reinforced by awards for international activism, development advocacy and social entrepreneurship. Its work has also generated confrontations with officials and business interests. In Cambodia, reporting on timber networks and alleged links to senior political figures was followed by a reported threat against Global Witness personnel. In Malaysia, an undercover video investigation concerning Sarawak land deals exposed the organisation to scrutiny because of its use of covert methods, while also illustrating its willingness to investigate powerful political and commercial networks. Global Witness is funded mainly through grants from foundations, governments and charities rather than through commercial sales. Its supporting UK charity, Global Witness Trust, is registered in the United Kingdom. The organisation operates internationally from offices in London, Washington, D.C., and Brussels and remains focused on investigative research, public campaigning and policy change at the intersection of natural resources, corruption, environmental protection and human rights.

• 2021

  Receives David and Goliath Award

  [1]Global Witnessen.wikipedia.org

  Global Witness co-wins the Sheila McKechie Foundation's David and Goliath Award for campaigning that helped stop UK government financing for fossil-fuel projects overseas.

• 2014

  Receives Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship

  [1]Global Witnessen.wikipedia.org

  Global Witness is recognised with the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship.

• 2013

  Receives Allard Prize honourable mention

  [1]Global Witnessen.wikipedia.org

  Global Witness receives an honourable mention from the Allard Prize for International Integrity.

• 2009

  Publishes research on conflict minerals in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

  [1]Global Witnessen.wikipedia.org

  A Global Witness report examines how mineral trading and corporate supply chains can finance armed groups in eastern Congo.

• 2007

  Receives development advocacy award

  [1]Global Witnessen.wikipedia.org

  Global Witness receives the Center for Global Development and Foreign Policy Magazine Commitment to Development Ideas in Action Award.

• 2005

  Receives Gleitsman Foundation prize

  [1]Global Witnessen.wikipedia.org

  Global Witness receives the Gleitsman Foundation prize for international activism.

• 2003

  Kimberley Process certification system takes effect

  [1]Global Witnessen.wikipedia.org

  The international rough-diamond certification framework is established to restrict trade in diamonds associated with armed conflict.

• 2002

  Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative is announced

  [1]Global Witnessen.wikipedia.org

  The EITI is announced at the World Summit on Sustainable Development, following efforts by transparency campaigners including Global Witness and the Publish What You Pay coalition.

• 2000

  International pressure grows for conflict-diamond controls

  [1]Global Witnessen.wikipedia.org

  Global Witness and allied civil-society organisations intensify international campaigning against the trade in diamonds used to finance armed conflict.

• 1993

  Global Witness is founded

  [1]Global Witnessen.wikipedia.org

  Patrick Alley, Simon Taylor and Charmian Gooch establish the organisation, which begins developing an investigative model focused on natural resources, conflict and corruption.

• 1990

  First campaign investigates Cambodian timber

  [1]Global Witnessen.wikipedia.org

  Global Witness investigates timber smuggling from Cambodia into Thailand and the relationship between illegal logging, political networks and the Khmer Rouge.

An investigative watchdog and advocacy organisation linking environmental protection, human rights, anti-corruption and transparency in global resource and financial systems.

• Research and publications

  Investigative reports

  Global Witness publishes investigations based on field research, documentary evidence, corporate records and interviews. Reports examine the links between natural-resource extraction, armed conflict, corruption, financial secrecy, environmental destruction and human-rights abuses. They are designed both to document misconduct and to support campaigns directed at governments, companies, banks and international institutions.

• Human-rights documentation · 2012

  Environmental and land-defender monitoring

  The organisation tracks killings and threats against people defending land, forests, water, biodiversity and local communities. Its reporting connects violence against defenders with mining, logging, agribusiness, infrastructure, pollution and land-grabbing disputes, and uses annual statistics to highlight the global scale of the problem.

• Anti-corruption advocacy

  Beneficial-ownership transparency campaigns

  Global Witness campaigns for registers and disclosure rules that identify the real people who own or control companies. The work targets the use of anonymous corporate structures to conceal corruption proceeds, illicit assets, tax evasion, criminal financing and conflicts of interest in resource and property transactions.

• Governance and policy · 2002

  Extractive-industry transparency advocacy

  Through work connected with Publish What You Pay and the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, Global Witness advocates disclosure of payments made by oil, gas and mining companies and revenues received by governments. The objective is to allow citizens and oversight bodies to assess how public natural-resource wealth is managed.

• Threats against Global Witness personnel in Cambodia

  After a Global Witness report implicated relatives of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and other senior officials in timber-related allegations, Hun Neng, a provincial governor and the prime minister's brother, was reported to have threatened violence against anyone from the organisation returning to Cambodia.

  Source

• Controversy over undercover methods in Malaysia

  Global Witness's covert filming of conversations concerning Sarawak land deals raised questions about undercover investigative methods while bringing alleged corruption and political connections in land transactions to international attention.

  Source

Read more

• 2009Conflict minerals in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

  Democratic Republic of the Congo · Rwanda · Burundi · European and Asian supply chains

  Field research and reporting examined how mineral trading and international supply chains could provide revenue to armed groups in eastern Congo.

  Outcome. The campaign increased scrutiny of companies sourcing minerals from conflict-affected areas and of the responsibilities of downstream buyers.

  Source
• 2009Financial secrecy and anonymous companies

  United Kingdom · United States · International financial system

  Global Witness campaigned against anonymous corporate ownership and examined how Western banks and financial institutions can facilitate the movement of money linked to corruption.

  Source
• 2002Publish What You Pay and extractive-industry transparency

  International oil, gas and mining industries

  Global Witness helped develop the Publish What You Pay coalition and advocated public disclosure of company payments and government revenues from natural resources.

  Outcome. The work contributed to the creation and subsequent governance of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative.

  Source
• 2000Conflict diamonds

  Sierra Leone · Sub-Saharan Africa · International diamond trade

  Global Witness campaigned against diamonds used to finance armed conflict and pressed governments and the diamond industry to create an enforceable international certification system.

  Outcome. The campaign contributed to the establishment of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme for rough diamonds.

  Source
• 1990Cambodian timber campaign

  Cambodia · Thailand

  Global Witness investigated timber smuggling from Cambodia into Thailand and the role of illegal logging in sustaining armed and political networks.

  Outcome. The campaign drew international attention and was credited with helping bring the cross-border timber trade to an end.

  Source
• Inside Malaysia's Shadow State

  Malaysia · Sarawak

  An undercover video investigation examined alleged corruption and conflicts of interest in Sarawak land deals by presenting investigators as potential investors and recording conversations with politically connected individuals and their lawyer.

  Source
• Protection of environmental and land defenders

  Global

  Global Witness documents violence against people opposing extractive projects, industrial logging, land grabs, pollution, dams and other environmental threats, while campaigning for their protection and participation in climate decision-making.

  Source

• 2009

  Expands focus to financial institutions and anonymous companiesStrategy

  Background

  Investigations increasingly connected resource-related corruption with offshore structures, hidden ownership and financial institutions outside the countries where abuses occurred.

  Action taken

  Global Witness campaigned for beneficial-ownership registers, stronger anti-money-laundering controls and greater scrutiny of banks and corporate service providers.

  Source

• 2002

  Pursues institutional transparency in extractive industriesStrategy

  Background

  Global Witness argued that secrecy around company payments and government resource revenues enabled corruption and weakened public accountability.

  Action taken

  The organisation helped establish the Publish What You Pay coalition and supported the development of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative.

  Aftermath

  The EITI developed into an international transparency framework supported by governments, companies and investors, with Global Witness participating in its advisory and governing structures.

  Source

• 2000

  Escalates international campaign against conflict diamondsStrategy

  Background

  Research linked rough-diamond trading to armed conflict and humanitarian abuses, especially in parts of Africa.

  Action taken

  Global Witness pressed producing states, governments and the diamond industry to establish a common certification and control system.

  Aftermath

  The campaign helped lead to the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, implemented in the early 2000s.

  Source

• Connects climate policy with defender protection and representationStrategy

  Background

  The organisation argued that climate and forest programmes can create risks for local communities when implemented without independent oversight or meaningful participation.

  Action taken

  Global Witness campaigned for stronger protections for environmental defenders and greater representation of affected communities in climate and natural-resource decisions.

  Source

1. 1Global Witnessen.wikipedia.org
2. 2Global Witness official websiteglobalwitness.org