(Full statement attached)

ITSCI takes very seriously all concerns regarding the governance and operation of our programme or unreported risks to supply chains. We have dedicated significant efforts to analyse the Global Witness report ‘The ITSCI Laundromat’ and have determined that while usefully reflecting some challenges intrinsic to conflict-affected and high-risk areas it contains contradictions, inaccuracies and selective reporting. Global Witness present a sensationalised and exaggerated picture with what seems a bias towards views of certain actors.

ITSCI strongly rejects all Global Witness’ stated or implied allegations of wrongdoing, facilitating deliberate misuse of ITSCI systems or illegal activity. We provide our full and detailed analysis in our transparent response of June 2022, making use of both existing information and new field enquiries, to support our determination. In December 2021 we provided extensive input to Global Witness which was only reflected in their reporting in a limited way. Important stakeholder inputs from government and companies appear to have been similarly dismissed without reason...