Title: Global Witness

Source/Sponsoring Agency: Global Witness

URL: http://www.globalwitness.org/

Date Checked: 10/14/2011      Status: Active

Date Annotated: 10/10/2011

Topics: Environmental Law; Human Rights Law; International Law

Other keywords: Natural Resources

Contents: Global Witness (GW) was founded in 1993 and has offices in Washington D.C. and London. Since its founding, Global Witness has been running campaigns against "natural resource-related Global Witness (GW) was founded in 1993 and has offices in Washington D.C. and London. Since its founding, Global Witness has been running campaigns against "natural resource-related conflict and corruption and associated environmental and human rights abuses." Through advocacy and investigations, GW hopes to solve what they call the "resource curse." This curse harms the citizens of resource-rich countries because conflict over abundant timber, minerals, and other natural resources has led to corruption, destabilized governments, and war. The website provides significant information about the group and its work. The core of the site includes the Campaigns and News and reports sections. The Campaigns section provides detailed discussion of GW’s core activities. Users can access explanations of GW campaigns in four areas: corruption, conflict, accountability, and environment. Each of these is sub-divided into specific areas. For example, the conflict section includes specific treatment of "conflict diamonds," "conflict minerals," and "post conflict reconstruction." Users may also look at campaigns by country, including Angola, Cote d’Ivoire, Kazakhstan, and Venezuela. The News and reports section allows users to find content by selecting various parameters. Users may identify issues and campaigns, regions and countries, and type of document to obtain needed material. This allows users to tap into a large database of documents in an orderly way. The site is available in English, French, and Chinese.

Author of Annotation: M. Morrison