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The Banks Are Being Called to Account

THE BANKS ARE BEING CALLED TO ACCOUNT. BankTrack and the Fair Steel Coalition — with Green Advocates Liberia — have called on the banks financing ArcelorMittal to temporarily suspend finance until the company works with communities to provide remedy and puts safeguards in place to prevent future harm. The case is documented in their joint media release of October 14, 2026, following the Disclose investigation into ArcelorMittal's Liberia operations. The banks were first warned about ArcelorMittal's human rights impacts in Liberia in July 2024. Since then, according to DealLogic figures cited in the release, global banks have helped ArcelorMittal raise over US$2.3 billion through at least five corporate lending and bond underwriting deals — while Liberian communities lost homes, crops and livelihoods. The banks named, from most to least exposed: SMBC Group, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Citigroup, HSBC, Santander, Standard Chartered, Mizuho...

A Good Story for Liberia — Executive Order No. 169 and the Railway Authority

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A GOOD STORY FOR LIBERIA President Boakai has issued Executive Order No. 169, renewing the mandate of the Liberia National Railway Liaison Office — the office building Liberia's National Railway Authority. Its work: complete the condition and capacity study of the Tokadeh–Buchanan corridor, finalise the draft Railway Authority Act with the Law Reform Commission, and lay the groundwork for a multi-user, open-access rail system — a corridor that serves every Liberian sector fairly, transparently, and not one company alone. When the Act passes, the Liaison Office hands over everything within ninety days and dissolves. A state building the institution that opens its own railway: that is reform with an address. CorporateWatch Liberia has added this story to its Good Stories page — where Liberia getting it right is documented too: https://corporatewatchliberia.org/good-stories.html Source: Executive Mansion-Liberia, Executive Order No. 169, 23 October 2026.

A Message from the Founder of CorporateWatch Liberia

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A MESSAGE FROM THE FOUNDER OF CORPORATEWATCH LIBERIA I write in the spirit of respect — for the rule of law; the dignity of every Liberian; and for a remedy of ArcelorMittal's unchecked harm and abuse in Liberia. For twenty years, Liberia has hosted one of the world's largest steel companies. In that time, our institution has documented 93 cases in the ArcelorMittal Harm Registry: 34 lives lost and over 2,981 people harmed, labour rulings unenforced on the public record, and environmental fines imposed again and again — while not one case stands fully investigated with its ruling implemented. ArcelorMittal Liberia is Ground Zero — where harm and unethical practices are enormous. These are documented facts, and the record stands open to correction by anyone holding better evidence. I address this message to six seats of responsibility. TO THE GOVERNMENT OF LIBERIA — The verdict of zero is yours to answer as much as the company's. Your Ministry of Labou...

To the Board of ArcelorMittal — The Accountability Wall

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TO THE BOARD OF ARCELORMITTAL — THE ACCOUNTABILITY WALL Before you stands the Record of Harm: 93 registered cases · at least 34 lives lost · at least 2,981 people harmed · 0 investigated, 0 rulings implemented. And the register is not the whole of it. Many more incidents were never reported, never announced — hidden from the public eye. So answer this: how can there be deaths and injuries, year after year, and neither ArcelorMittal nor the Government of Liberia has ever publicly named the dead and the wounded? The dead have names. You buried them in silence. CorporateWatch Liberia has the file. Board — bring yours out. Duty bearers — bring the documents out of the buried files. What is hidden will be counted. — CorporateWatch Liberia 🌐 corporatewatchliberia.org 💬 wa.me/12159708162 ✍️ change.org/p/hold-arcelormittal-accountable-for-systemic-human-rights-abuses #ArcelorMittal #Liberia #ESG #HumanRights #CorporateAccountability #InvestorResponsibility

Thank You, Ambassador Kouyateh

THANK YOU, AMBASSADOR KOUYATEH Former Ambassador Sheikh Al-Moustapha Kouyateh has called on Liberians to resist the country's concession agreements and demanded they be renegotiated, as reported by The Liberian Investigator (21 October 2026): https://liberianinvestigator.com/kouyateh-liberia-concession-agreements-renegotiation/ He questioned extending and renegotiating the agreements with ArcelorMittal Liberia and Bea Mountain Mining Corporation, and said no extension should be approved without a full assessment of the financial returns, jobs, infrastructure and benefits each company has provided to affected communities. His words deserve to be heard in full: "There is nothing called concession that will benefit Liberia." "Revolution does not mean violence. Revolution means resistance: resistance to lies, resistance to continued poverty, resistance to maltreatment, resistance to injustice." "The people will not continue to endure ...

Mr. Vice President — Measure Your Words at Home

MR. VICE PRESIDENT — MEASURE YOUR WORDS AT HOME A CorporateWatch Liberia critique of Vice President Jeremiah Kpan Koung's Accra address to the Africa Minerals Policy Forum (19 October 2026, as reported by The New Dawn) As reported by The New Dawn (20 October 2026, by Lincoln G. Peters — https://www.thenewdawnliberia.com/koung-pushes-africas-mineral-sovereignty/), in Accra, Vice President Jeremiah Kpan Koung spoke the language of mineral sovereignty: fair returns, protected communities, safeguards never weakened, revenues never surrendered. "Our countries should not have to weaken safeguards or surrender reasonable revenues to attract investment." Mining communities, he said, must be central beneficiaries, and partnerships "should be assessed by the skills transferred, businesses developed, industries established and public value created." CorporateWatch Liberia welcomes every one of those sentences — and measures them against the record of his...

QUESTIONS CONSTITUENTS SHOULD BE ASKING THEIR LEADERS

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1. Why does Liberia receive only 2–10% of the billions ArcelorMittal extracts from our soil? If Article 7 demands “maximum feasible participation” and national welfare, why is Liberia getting crumbs? 2. Who approved an agreement where a foreign corporation earns two to four billion yearly while citizens inherit poverty? Which lawmakers signed off on this imbalance — and why? 3. How does the Legislature justify calling ArcelorMittal a “largest taxpayer” when the nation’s share is mathematically insignificant? Why is exploitation being celebrated as achievement? 4. What constitutional analysis did lawmakers use to claim this deal protects the people’s power under Article 1? If all power is inherent in the people, why is their wealth not? 5. How does this agreement comply with Article 8’s obligation to secure opportunities for future generations? Why are unborn Liberians being denied access to their own inheritance? 6. Who benefits politically or personally from maintaining a deal that im...