This is a guide for companies working in the extractive industries, particularly in the oil and gas sectors and provides basic conflict management advice and guidance. Its objective is to save time, to protect resources and reputations, and to enhance the safety of employees and of the communities in which they do business.The guide presents tools for risk assessment and risk management in conflict settings, including:

While increasing attention has been paid to Chinese attempts to secure natural resources overseas, the case of Burma has often been overlooked. This background provides a summary of the operations of Chinese multinational corporations (MNCs) in Burma in the hydro, oil & gas, and mining sectors. The research finds that more than 26 Chinese multinational corporations (MNCs) are involved in more than 62 hydropower, oil & gas, and mining projects in Burma. The report describes the activities of Chinese MNCs in Burma which include the following:

This report presents the findings of an international fact finding mission to assess human rights, social and environmental impacts of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BYC) oil pipeline, which BP and other companies (as part of the BTC Consortium) are currently building in order to bring oil from Caspian Sea oilfields to Western markets.

This paper investigates the extent to which private companies operating in conflict zones can contribute to Human Rights abuses. In addressing this issue, it focuses on four voluntary frameworks – the UN Global Compact, the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, the Global Reporting Initiative and, most relevantly, the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights.The research finds that:

This report examines the living conditions of children and youth under 18 years old involved in diamond-related activities. The report documents the production of process of diamonds in Kono District in Sierra Leone; specifies characteristics of the young miners and those involved in various support functions; and identifies the most vulnerable groups of children and adolescents involved in the process.The report finds that:55 percent of the children interviewed in this survey originate from Kono.

This report assesses the role of the World Bank in the funding and management of the Chad-Cameroon oil and pipeline project. The report argues that the project has fueled violence, impoverished people in the oil fields and along the pipeline route, exacerbated the pressures on indigenous peoples and created new environmental problems. The report highlights how the World Bank’s Implementation Completion Report (ICR) is inconsistent with other independent reports on the project.

This is the first in a series of evidence-based reports on the role of large engineering contractors in strengthening the positive local economic and social impacts of capital investment projects in the oil and gas sector in developing countries.

Mining has not always had good press in the development arena, due to a history of inadequate environmental and social governance. This short paper argues that there is enormous opportunity to be had in including women in mining operations. The author looks at how International Finance Corporations’ (IFC) Gender Program was able to implement strategies to help two IFC mining clients better integrate women into their operations. The author highlights how in so doing, IFC has contributed to the clients’ sustainability objectives and to improved performance through greater gender diversity.

Governments in a number of countries are trying to address concerns about land grabbing by closing their borders to foreign investors. Are these restrictions effective?
Not really, says GRAIN. They give the impression that something is being done at the highest level and appeal to nationalist or pro-sovereignty sentiments. But they are very narrow approaches to a complex problem and often full of back doors and loopholes.

This report documents human rights abuses linked to efforts to control two key gold mining areas, Mongbwalu (Ituri District) and Durba (Haut Uélé District) in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).Findings of the report include:competition to control the gold mines and trading routes has spurred the bloody conflict that has gripped this area since the start of the Congolese war in 1998 and continues to the presentafter 2003 two armed groups, one backed by Uganda and the other by Rwanda, fought for the control of gold-mining areas and trade routeseach group won a gold-rich area but battles

Among the most daunting constraints mining has been facing is that it is a

Oil is a principal factor in Sudanese politics. However, rather than contributing to an environment of peace and equitable development, it remains a source of strife and division.This dossier provides an overview of Sudan’s oil industry and serves as a background document about the country’s contentious oil issues. The tables with data in the first two chapters help the reader to get a picture of Sudan’s oil industry.