Jakarta-the 42nd International Meeting of Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI) Council which held in Kyev, Ukraine on last February 28, generated significant decisions in the history of transparency in the extractive industry, especially oil and gas and mineral and coal. The EITI International Council which represents the government, business entities, and civil society agreed to change the EITI standard, which will become a reference for 52 EITI implementing countries. Approval of the EITI standard amendments will be authorized in EITI Global Conference which will be held in June 2019 in Paris, attended by the EITI implementing countries’ representative.

The significant change is the obligation for all of EITI implementing countries to disclose new data on oil and gas and mining contracts and permits or the amendments in 2021, reveal the company payment and state revenue in the project by project level.

Also the requirement to publish the company’s financial obligation related to the environment as required by legislation; requirement to publish workforce data sorting, and encourage gender mainstreaming in the implementation of EITI, and commodity trading transparency including the sale and purchase of oil and gas and mining.

Maryati Abdullah, the National Coordinator of Publish What You Pay (PWYP) Indonesia said that “as a civil society coalition which from the very beginning oversaw the establishment of EITI and its implementation, indeed we welcomed the decision of EITI International council. The decision not only shows the progress of civil society advocacy in promoting transparency and accountability in the extractive sector, but also indicates that EITI initiative did not stop at just one step, and continually grow along the times. The beginning of EITI, which only transparent the state revenues, now has gone a long way in pushing transparency in almost the entire chain of the extractive industry, including integrating gender equality and justice. More critical, EITI demands the real improvement impact in the form of extractive industry governance reform.

Indonesia, as an EITI implementing country since 2010 with the legal umbrella of Presidential Regulation number 26 year 2010 concerning the Transparency of State Revenue and Regional Revenue Gained from Extractive Industry, is expected become a pioneer which progressively promotes transparency and accountability in the sector.

“We believe that Indonesia as a rich country of Oil, Gas, and mining product, can take leadership in this global movement,” affirmed Maryati.

Contract and Permit Disclosure
Aryanto Nugroho, Civil Society Representative in the EITI Indonesia Implementation Team, explained that in the context of mining contract and permit disclosure in Indonesia, generally it has been regulated through the Law number 14 year 2008 concerning the Public Information Disclosure. Particularly article 11 paragraph (1) which regulate that public bodies are obliged to provide agreement documents for public agencies and the third party, including Contract of Work (KK), procurement of good and services contracts, and others.

“In the implementation, document of contract and permit in oil, gas, and mining sector, are open information, explained him.

Aryanto, who is also PWYP Indonesia’s Advocacy and Program Development Manager, mentioned some Information Commission decisions both at the central and regional levels stating that the contract and mining documents are public document that must be available to the public.

The verdict of Central Information Commission No.197/VI/KIP-PS-M-A/2011 about the dispute between the YP2IP and the Ministry of Mineral and Energy Resources (MEMR) related to Freeport Indonesia and Newmont Mining Corporation’s Contract of Work, as well as Kaltim Prima Coal’s Coal Contract of Work, which stated the copy of the contract of work are open information overall.

“Most recently, the Riau Provincial Information Commission in early 2019 decided that a copy of the oil and gas company PSC contract document in Riau Province was open information as requested by the public information applicant on behalf of Novrizon Burman to the Special Task Force for Upstream Oil and Gas Business Activities (SKK Migas ) Representative of North Sumatra (Sumbagut), “said Aryanto.

While related to mining permit documents, the results of mediation between the Legal Aid Institute (LBH) Padang and the Information and Documentation Management Officer (PPID) at the West Sumatra Provincial Information Commission on June 5, 2017 with the Register number: 24/XII/KISB-PS/2016 mentioned that all mining permit documents in West Sumatra by 2016, are public information (TribunSumbar, 2017).

The Verdict of East Kalimantan Provincial Information Commission No.0003 / REG-PSI / III / 2014 which is reinforced by the decision of the Supreme Court (MA) Number 614K / TUN / 2015 in a dispute between JATAM Kaltim and the Energy and Mineral Resources Agency of Kutai Kartanegara Regency also states that the Mining Business Permit (IUP) document is open information.

“It’s strange if today, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources still states that contract documents and permits are closed information.”

Project by Project Level and Commodity Trading Transparency
Nurkholis Hidayat from the Lokataru Foundation reminded that project by project level, and commodity trading transparency is crucial to encourage accountability. “This is mainly to close the gap of rent seekers and the corruption space which has been suspected of being through the chain of service projects / sub-contracts of extractive industries which involving local elites. With project by project level transparency, public able to dissect various issues such as PT Freeport’s divestment, for instance.”

Indonesian government actually has taken the initiative to become part of the piloting country among EITI implementing countries and has also published reports on commodity trading transparency. However, the results are still far from expectations, both of the scoping report and the findings.

“Some of the findings were not confirmed, especially from Pertamina which did not want to disclose the data, especially data related to imports, sellers and buyers, as well as just confirming the findings,” Nurkholis explained.

Even though the commodity trading transparency is in line with the recommendations of the Oil and Gas Governance Reform Team, which several years ago worked to improve the oil and gas sector, until now, unfortunately, the follow up of the recommendations are unknown.

Gender Mainstreaming in EITI
Ermy Ardhyanti, CSO Representative in EITI Indonesia, said that gender equality and justice should be mainstreamed along the business chain of the extractive industry, whether there are or no EITI initiatives. Gender justice must go beyond that.

According to Ermy, the gender role and relation in the extractive industry are not balanced, women and children tend to receive negative impact from mining activities, compare to man. Let say, the Kendeng case or the mining pits in Kalimantan, the most impacted are women and children.

Access and control toward resources, for instance, rights to property and natural resources, women are in marginal position so affected to their prosperity. Women participation in the decision-making process in the extractive sector is still in the lowest position.

“Also, the security and protection of women and children in the mining area are still weak,” explained Ermy.