The constant gardener
Global Compact
Graham Knight,
McMaster University
Jackie Smith,
McMaster University
The Global Compact initiative was launched in 1999 by the
UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, as part of a wider effort
to renew the United Nations by strengthening its ties to
the private sector. The Global Compact, or GC, seeks to
sensitize corporate leaders to the values and norms of the
UN system by encouraging them to sign on to ten "core
principles." GC Partners agree to:
- support and respect for the protection of
internationally proclaimed human rights
- take steps to insure that they are not complicit in
human rights abuses
- uphold the freedom of association and the effective
recognition of the right to collective bargaining
- eliminate all forms of forced and compulsory labour
- work towards the effective abolition of child
labour
- eliminate discrimination in respect of employment
and occupation
- support a precautionary approach to environmental
challenges
- undertake initiatives to promote greater
environmental responsibility
- encourage the development and diffusion of
environmentally friendly technologies
- work to eliminate all forms of corruption,
including extortion and bribery
To participate in the GC, a company must send a letter to
the UN Secretary-General expressing support for the GC and
its principles, agree to initiate changes to business
operations to integrate GC principles into the
corporation's day-to-day operations, publicly advocate for
the GC and its principles, and publish in its annual report
a summary of how the company is working to advance the GC
principles. The UN helps encourage businesses to
internalize the GC principles by holding annual "Global
Policy Dialogues" on globalization and corporate
citizenship. Such meetings are held in cooperation with
other UN agencies and some civil society groups. In
addition to these annual meetings, the GC supports
network-building between corporations and local and
national associations working to promote socially
responsible corporate practices. It also publicizes "best
practices" to encourage companies to learn from other GC
partners about how to best implement the GC Principles.
Currently, the GC claims more than two thousand corporate
partners and other stakeholders in more than eighty
countries.
In addition to corporate partners, the GC also invites
participation from civil society organizations at the
international and, increasingly, the national and local
levels. It seeks to promote greater cooperation between
businesses and civil society groups as a means of enhancing
corporate social responsibility. However, its success at
engaging active civil society participation has been
limited, mostly by the refusal of business partners to
accept more transparency and openness in reporting on their
implementation of GC principles. Civil society groups
prefer to have mechanisms to allow independent monitoring
of corporate compliance with GC principles as a condition
for participation in the program. But the business
community has steadfastly rejected any monitoring scheme,
insisting that the GC remain a voluntary program. As a
result, the GC has not seriously challenged "partners"
whose practices clearly violate the GC and other UN
principles.
Because of this serious flaw in the program, civil society
participation has been limited. The GC web site claims
just twenty-two international civil society partners from
a pool of many thousands of internationally active groups,
and even these have been publicly critical of the GC.
Among these are groups like Amnesty International, Oxfam,
and International Save the Children Alliance. Moreover,
many of those groups listed as civil society "partners"
have been publicly critical of the GC, participating in a
counter-summit at one of the GC conferences and sending
letters to GC architects George Kell and John Ruggie
expressing their concerns. Expressing a widely shared
concern, Human Rights First wrote:
…some companies are promoting their participation in the
Global Compact as implicitly suggesting an indication of
good conduct resulting in such approval. We continue to be
concerned that these companies are using their
participation in the Global Compact primarily as a
marketing tool, despite the fact that they have made no
discernible commitment to comply with the Global Compact
principles. (Letter from Michael Posner of Human Rights
First to George Kell and John Ruggie, 23 June 2004
Available:
www.humanrightsfirst.org/workers_rights/issues/gc/pd
f/response_ruggie_kell_062304.pdf (accessed 20 January
2006)
Reflecting a similar observation businessman and
philanthropist George Soros has called the GC "corporate
image whitewash." And Corpwatch has labeled the program
"blue wash," since it allows corporations to hide their
unscrupulous behaviors behind the UN's blue flag
(Corpwatch
website).
In short, the Global Compact reflects a relatively recent
effort by the UN leadership to expand its relevance by
engaging the business community more directly. This moves
beyond its traditional focus on governments, and reflects
an explicit attempt to build and expand networks between
diverse sectors of society. The ability of the GC to
effectively alter the practices of businesses, however,
will depend upon its willingness and capacity to monitor
corporate compliance with global norms and to sanction
companies that fail to use ethical business practices.
Moreover, unless the UN confronts the very serious
inequities of power between transnational corporations and
member governments as well as civil society, it will not
only fail to affect corporate practices, but it will
undermine the already limited legitimacy it has.
Works Cited:
Corpwatch website.
Tangled Up in Blue,
www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=996 (accessed
20 January 2006).