We, representatives of civil society organizations and members of the International Board of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), wish to express our deep concern, and condemn the decision of the Congress of the Republic of Peru to approve, yesterday, March 12, 2025, the amendment to Law 27692, the Law creating the Peruvian Agency for International Cooperation (APCI). This deeply troubling law follows a pattern of similar laws passed in other jurisdictions around the world that have been used to silence civil society and punish any opposition or criticism.
This law weakens the civil rights of civil society and indigenous peoples’ organizations in Peru, violates civic space, and affects these organizations’ right to freedom of expression. This law establishes that, from now on, it is a very serious offense for civil society organizations to receive or use international development funds to advise, assist, or finance, in any administrative, judicial, or other actions, in national or international forums, that crticise the government or go “against the Peruvian State”. Very clearly, the Government of Peru can weild this vague term widely to shut down any criticism.
In practice, this means that it will be impossible to take legal action in defense of victims of human rights violations without being sanctioned. Any civil society organization in receipt of forgeign funding that steps up in defense of an accused during such a legal trial could be fined or have their registration revoked. This is not transparency, it is censorship. The right to report abuses and promote informed voting is restricted, weakening citizen oversight and going against democracy and citizen participation.
In a context where social protest and freedom to criticize the government are fundamental to democracy worldwide, these provisions seek to intimidate those who oversee and demand transparency from authorities. This law does not promote accountability, but instead establishes a mechanism of censorship. Therefore, we join with Peruvian civil society in calling upon the government to respect the right to freedom of expression, citizen participation, and preservation of civic space, and in the context of EITI, Requirement 1.3 on the free participation of civil society.
EITI Board members
- Ba Aliou Coulibaly, Président of PWYP Coalition Mauritania, EITI Board Member.
- Vanessa Cueto La Rosa, Derecho, Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (DAR), EITI Board Member – Perú.
- Tamika Halwiindi, Transparency International Zambia, EITI Board Member.
- Diana Kaissy, The Lebanese Oil and Gas Initiative, EITI Board Member.
- Kossi Kougblenou, ACOMB,Togo, EITI Board Member.
- Mariya Lobacheva, Public Association Echo, EITI Board Member – Kazakhstan.
- Clancy Moore, Transparency International – Australia
- Olena Pavlenko, DiXi Group Ukraine, EITI Board Member.
- Matthieu Salomon, Natural Resource Governance Institute, EITI Board Member.
- Yessica Prieto Ramos, EITI Board Member – Colombia.
Civil society organizations and personal signs
- Mauricio Alarcón Salvador, Fundación Ciudadanía y Desarrollo – TI Ecuador.
- Epifanio Baca Grupo Propuesta Ciudadana, Representante alterno de Sociedad Civil en la Comisión EITI Peru.
- César Bazán Seminario, Instituto de Defensa Legal – IDL, Peru.
- Beverly Besmanos, Bantay Kita, Philippines.
- Rayah Bhattacharji, Projekta, Suriname.
- Ivan Brehaut Larrea, Asociación ProPurús, Peru
- Oswaldo Bilbao Lobatón, Centro de Desarrollo Étnico – CEDET, Peru.
- Olimpia Castillo Blanco, Comunicación y Educación Ambiental SC, Mexico.
- Elvia Milagros Correa Sánchez, CEDEPAS Norte, Peru.
- Juan Luis Dammert, Natural Resource Governance Institute – Latin America
- Olga De Obaldia, Fundación para el desarrollo de la Libertad Ciudadana – Transparencia internacional Panama.
- Marta Ferrara, Semillas para la Democracia. Paraguay.
- Carla Flores Lot, CartoCrítica, Mexico.
- Juan Krahl, Directorio Legislativo, Argentina.
- Iris Olivera, Derecho, Ambiente y Recursos Naturales-DAR, Representante alterno de Sociedad Civil en la Comisión EITI Peru
- Oleksiy Orlovsky, International Renaissance Foundation, Ukraine.
- Alejandro Parellada, International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs-IWGIA, Denmark.
- Marcin Piersiak, Alliance for Responsible Mining Europe, France.
- Patricia Pinto Arenas, DESCOSUR , EITI Arequipa, Peru.
- Yessica Prieto Ramos , EITI board member from Civil society LAC, Colombia.
- Danuta Radzik, Guyana oil and gas change.
- Vanda Radzik, Independent Civil Society Rights Advocate, Guyana.
- Brenda Rodríguez, Natural Resource Governance Institute, Mexico.
- Simon Taylor Hawkmoth, Netherlands.
- Federico Tenorio Calderón, Grupo Propuesta Ciudadana, Peru.
- Pedro Zapata Tapia, Natural Resource Governance Institute, Chile.
- Melissa Donet Paredes, CEDEPAS Norte, Peru.
- Olga Cristina del Rocío Gavancho León, Instituto de Defensa Legal – IDL, Peru.
- Alex Martín Gonzales Anampa, Colegio de Sociólogos del Perú – Región Cajamarca, Peru.
- Carmen Koochoi Gutiérrez, Consejo Regional de Sociólogos – Áncash, Peru.
- Lilyan Delgadillo Hinostroza, Fondo Socioambiental del Perú.
- Carlos Herz Saenz, Entornos, Peru.
- Ana Romero Cano, Red Peruana por una Globalización con Equidad (RedGE), Peru.
- Amaru Ruiz, Asociación Centroamericana para el Desarrollo y la Democracia, Nicaragua.
- Raul Silesky Jimenez, Instituto de Prensa y Libertad de Expresión (IPLEX), Costa Rica.
- Alejandro Arrieta Diaz. Persona natural. Perú.
- Anna Cartagena. Persona natural.
- Isaac Alejo Reyes. Persona natural. Perú.
- Nelly Carrasco Camones. Persona natural. Perú.
- Mabel Abanto Yllescas. Persona natural. Perú.
- María del Pilar Benavides Carlín. Persona natural. Perú.
[Signs continue]