09/10/2026
𝐏𝐔𝐁𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐇 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐏𝐀𝐘 𝐙𝐀𝐌𝐁𝐈𝐀
𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐒 𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐄
𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞
𝟗 𝐎𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔
𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐞: 𝐏𝐖𝐘𝐏 𝐙𝐚𝐦𝐛𝐢𝐚 𝐣𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐜𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐥 𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐔𝐍 𝐂𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐌𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐦 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐛𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐭𝐬
Lusaka — Publish What You Pay (PWYP) Zambia has joined civil society organisations from all six pilot countries of the new UN Country Support Mechanism on Critical Energy Transition Minerals in setting out clear tests for the initiative.
The joint statement, issued under the Resource Justice Network and titled “Justice at the source,” welcomes the Mechanism launched by UN Secretary-General António Guterres on 23 September 2026 — starting with Guinea, Indonesia, Madagascar, Nigeria, Zambia and Zimbabwe — but only if it changes who benefits from the minerals boom.
That means involving affected communities from the start, helping producing countries add value at home, ensuring local communities receive a fair share of the benefits, and making human rights a condition of all support.
PWYP Zambia National Director Mr Nsama Chikwanka said the initiative must avoid the bureaucracies that have long hindered delivery by both government and UN systems.
“𝑃𝑊𝑌𝑃 𝑍𝑎𝑚𝑏𝑖𝑎 𝑖𝑠 ℎ𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑓𝑢𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑙𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑏𝑜𝑡ℎ 𝑔𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑈𝑁 𝑠𝑦𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑚𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦, 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑒 𝑎𝑣𝑜𝑖𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑡 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝑡𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑢𝑐𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒, 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑖𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑙, ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑏𝑜𝑡ℎ 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑡𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠. 𝑃𝑊𝑌𝑃 𝑍𝑎𝑚𝑏𝑖𝑎 𝑎𝑙𝑠𝑜 𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑐𝑙𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎 𝑐𝑜𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑛𝑒-𝑔𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑎𝑐ℎ,” Mr Chikwanka said.
He underlined that Zambia, as Africa’s second-largest copper producer and a pilot country for the Mechanism, has a direct stake in ensuring that the minerals driving the global energy transition deliver real benefits for communities and the nation — not only for export markets.
The joint statement notes that the Mechanism’s announcement said nothing about the role of civil society, affected communities or Indigenous Peoples, and set out no timeline or budget. Without a coherent national framework, civil society warns, the Mechanism risks becoming one more channel among many bilateral deals, rather than a tool that helps producing countries negotiate on their own terms.
Signatories call on UN Resident Coordinators and pilot country governments to:
• Publish national work plans before they are finalised, with timelines and budgets, and open them to public consultation;
• Establish resourced multi-stakeholder platforms that include civil society, local authorities, affected communities, women and young people from design to monitoring;
• Make transparency milestones a priority, including disclosure of contracts, impact assessments, project-level payments and beneficial ownership in formats citizens can use;
• Make human rights a condition of all support, including respect for free, prior and informed consent and the right to say no to mining;
• Strengthen domestic value addition, skills development and decent jobs; and
• Create an independent accountability mechanism through which communities can raise concerns and track follow-up.
“Justice must be built into every work plan, every partnership and every project the Mechanism supports,” the joint statement concludes.
PWYP Zambia is a signatory alongside Resource Justice Network, Resource Justice Network Madagascar, PWYP Guinea, PWYP Indonesia, PWYP Nigeria and the Zimbabwe Environmental Law Organisation.
— Ends —
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Kelvin Luckson Phiri
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Website: www.pwyp.org.zm
