“EITI Global meeting in Lima”

The Peru Support Group was present at the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) Global Conference, held in Lima on 24 and 25 February. Prof. Anthony Bebbington, for the PSG, chaired a side event on the shrinking space for civil society. The issue of civil society and its participation in the EITI proved to be a fractious issue, with some civil society groups walking out of the conference in protest. Here we summarise the work of the conference in terms of the EITI itself (and its importance for Peru), alongside the results of two side events: one held by Oxfam on the need for free, informed and prior consent (FPIC) for all extractive projects, and the other (written by Anthony Bebbington) on the role of civil society as an indispensable element within the EITI.