This week, Transparency International released its 2009 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) [2], a "composite index … based on 13 different expert and business surveys" that measures not corruption itself, "but the perceived level of public-sector corruption."

Burma (Myanmar), a perennial bottom-feeder since it was added to the CPI in 2003, this year came in 178th of 180 countries, besting only Afghanistan and Somalia, and scored a mere 1.4 out of 10 possible points.  

Nigeria, site of the tragic events behind the Wiwa v Shell [3] case, which ended this year in a historic settlement [4], slipped from 121st to 130th after several years of improvement, but avoided reuniting with Burma at the bottom, where it spent the first half of the decade. However, Nigeria scored only 2.5 points of a possible 10, so its recent climb is hardly cause for celebration.

While the CPI does not disclose the precise numbers leading to each country's score, Transparency International's Huguette Labelle has counted [5] the lack of "transparency in public budgets, revenue and aid flows" among the many factors contributing to corruption across the globe. Promotion of transparency is a common theme in many of EarthRights International's campaigns as well.

In our September 2009 report "Total Impact: The Human Rights, Environmental, and Financial Impacts of Total and Chevron’s Yadana Gas Project in Military-Ruled Burma (Myanmar) [6]," ERI revealed how the Yadana gas pipeline has generated over US$7 billion, with a majority of these billions going to the Burmese military regime. We also reported that a significant portion of these revenues never make it back into Burma, but instead can be found squired away in non-government bank accounts in Singapore.

ERI along with leading Burma NGOs and international NGOs, policy-makers, academics, investors and others have been calling on the Yadana companies to practice revenue transparency and disclose their payments to the Burmese junta. We’re hopeful that through public and private pressure, these companies will finally disclose this critical information so the people of Burma know how much the military junta is receiving for this public resource.

While these type of voluntary efforts are important, we also feel very strongly that mandatory and binding measure are put into place that require extractive companies to disclosing this type of information wherever they operate. That is why, in the US, ERI is a member of the Publish What You Pay US (PWYP-US) coalition [7] <link>, and we are advocating for the passage of the Energy Security Through Transparency Act (S.1700) [8], which would require corporations in the extractive industries to publicly disclose payments to foreign governments; payments made to the Burmese military would also be required if this bill passes.