Global Policy Forum

B.Belen Balayna, Corporate Europe Observatory

Dear Jessica Matthews, We are writing to you as an informal coalition of environmental and human rights organizations, women's networks and international solidarity groups who are concerned about the issues of corporate responsibility and corporate accountability. Three months ago we wrote to you, as a participant in the advisory council of the UN / ICC's Global Compact for your assessment of the impact the Global Compact is having. Unfortunately we have not yet obtained a reply, so hereby we'd like to ask you again.

The Global Compact is the highest-profile of a number of recent voluntary initiatives developing special relationships between the United Nations and the private sector. We are very concerned that such initiatives are uncritically giving business a disproportionately powerful and unaccountable role in shaping the sustainable development debate, as we have seen in the run-up and during the Johannesburg Summit on Sustainable Development (Rio +10)

We would also query several aspects of the design of the Global Compact. First, the absence of any mechanisms to monitor or enforce it would appear to make it an ineffective tool for improving corporate practices outside a few well-publicised case studies. Second, the fact that the 44 companies which initially supported the Compact included several companies with controversial environmental and human rights records is somewhat surprising. Their inclusion undermines the credibility of the initiative, and even threatens the good image of the UN, and its position of independence. Thus, the Global Compact has already served to improve the image of companies publicly associated with it, by taking advantage of the UN's good reputation, even though these companies may not have improved their conduct. Third, of particular concern is the lack of transparency: that the names of companies working within the Global Compact – currently numbering in the hundreds, according to the UN – are now kept secret.

We have seen no evidence of systemic improvement in the behaviour of the companies known to be involved, and are concerned that many of those companies which have signed up to it continue to behave inappropriately – such as Aventis in its irresponsible handling of transgenic crops, Nike in its labour rights policies in Asian factories, Rio Tinto in its human rights performance at its Kelian gold mine in Indonesia, and Unilever in its dumping of toxic waste at Kodaikanal in southern India.

Given the potential negative impacts of the Global Compact, it would be helpful to us to learn from you whether you feel it is being effective in bringing about corporate responsibility and corporate accountability, and in improving corporate behaviour. We would like to learn from you what concrete improvements you have seen in Global Compact companies' performance, in the two years since the Compact was launched? Furthermore, we call on you to make public the list of companies involved in the Compact, so that they and the performance of the compact can be open to scrutiny.

Since the Global Compact has a major impact on our work, and indeed on the corporate responsibility debate generally, we think it is important that the initiative is debated, and would like to circulate your views within our networks. We look forward to your response. Yours sincerely,
B.Belen Balayna
CEO Corporate Europe Observatory
Paulus Potterstraat 20
1071 DA Amsterdam
Wouter Gysen, Actieve Linkse Studenten, Belgium
Brian Ashley, Alternative Information & Development Centre (AIDC), South Africa
Alberto Villareal, Amigos de la Tierra (Friends of the Earth) Uruguay and Amigos de la Tierra de America Latina y el Caribe (ATALC)
Iza Kruszewska, ANPED – Northern Alliance for Sustainability (based in Netherlands)
Christopher Keene, Anti-Globalisation Network, UK
Jens Christiansen, ASEED Europe, Europe-wide network (based in Netherlands)
Titta Vadala, Associazione Donne e Ambiente, Italy
Eric Goeman, spokesperson Attac Flanders, Belgium
America Vera-Zavala, Attac Sweden
Jan Buelinckx, ATTAC, Unvirsity of Ghent, Belgium
Lina Pilo, Bolagsbevakarna, Sweden.
Brit Eckhart, Boston-Cambridge Alliance for Democracy, USA
Heidi Bachram, CarbonTradeWatch, Netherlands
Enzo Mangini, Carta, Italy
Juraj Zamkovsky, Center for Environmental Public Advovacy, Slovakia
Francuccio Gesuladi, Centro Nuovo Modello di Sviluppo, Italy
Rosalia Bandera, CRIC Centro Regionale d'Intervento per la Coperazione, Italy
Liane Casten, Chicago Media Watch, USA
Mark Curtis, Christian Aid, UK
Sarah Sexton, the Cornerhouse, UK
Philipp Mimkes, Coordination Against Bayer Dangers, Germany
Belen Balanya, Corporate Europe Observatory, Netherlands/Spain
Rebecca Spencer, Corporate Watch, UK
Joshua Karliner, Corpwatch, USA
Jonathan Cartwright, DEF, South Africa,
Claire Slatter, Development Alternatives with Woman for a New Era, (DAWN), International network (based in Fiji islands)
Michele Pickover, Diversity, Nature & Animals (DNA) Network, South Africa
Karim Beroud, Dwars, Netherlands
Bryan Ashe, Earthlife Africa-eThekwini, South Africa
Richard Worthington, Earthlife Africa Johanesburg, South Africa
Luis Gonzalez Reyes, Ecologistas en Accion, Spain
Jessica Wilson, Enviornmental Monitoring Group, South Africa
K T Suresh, Equations, India
Malin Christensson Faltbiologerna, Sweden
Lisa Ingwell, Famebo folkhogskola, Sweden
Giuseppe de Marzo, Federzione Verdi e Comitato Internazionalista Uwa, Italy
Paul Ruppen, Forum for Direct democracy, Switzerland
Morten Eriksen, Forum for utvikling og miljo (Forum on development and environment, an umbrella group of 60 Norwegian organisations) Norway
Laura Radiconcini, Friends of the Earth, Italy
Roman Havlicek, Friends of the Earth, Slovakia
Goran Folin, Friends of the Earth, Sweden
Deborah James, Global Exchange, USA
Fanija Bluma, Green Liberty, Latvia
Hanlie Pretorius, Green Party of South Africa
Pete Brown, Green Socialist Network, UK
Bobby Peek, Groundwork, South Africa
Tebogo Mahapa, Group for Environmental Monitoring, South Africa
Hermann Klosius, Informationsgruppe Lateinamerika (IGLA), Austria
Kristin Dawkins, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, USA
John Cavanagh, Institute for Policy Studies, USA
Joao Sucupira, Instituto Brasileiro de Analises Sociais e Economicas, Brazil
Alison Linnecar, International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN), international network (based in Switzerland)
Marta Trejos, IBFAN Latin America and Caribbean
John Bunzl, International Simultaneous Policy Organization (ISPO)
Brian Wills, International Simultaneous Policy Organization, France
Irmgard Hochrein, Jugendumweltnetzwerk JANUN e.V., Germany
Ulrich Duchrow, Kairos Europa, Germany
Anabela Lemos, Livaningo, Mozambique
Caroline Lucas, MEP
Eugeni Anselmet Guell,Movement of Global Resistance (MRG), Spain
Maria Mies, Network against Corporate Rule and Neoliberal Policies, Germany
Karine Danileyan, NGO Association for Sustainable Human Development, Armenia
Syed Naeem Bukhari, NOOR, Pakistan
Gwen Marshall, Ohio Fair Trade Campaign, USA
Rathinam Arul, Pasumai Thaayagam (Green Mother Land), India
Max Bollock, Peninsula Peace and Justice Center, USA
Guy Hughes, People and Planet, UK
Gregg Muttitt, PLATFORM, UK
Jaroslava Colajocomo, "Reform the World Bank" Campaign, Italy
Jan-Erik Gustafsson, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Sweden
Gillian Kerchhoff, SAFeAGE (South African Alliance on Genetic Engineering), South Africa
Matthias Reichl, Salzburg Forum against MAI/WTO and Center for Encounters and Active-Nonviolence, Austria
Stefano Prato, Society for International Development
Anna Weekes, South African Municipal Workers Union, South Africa
Gertrude Eigelsreiter-Jashari, Sudwind NO-West, Austria
William N. Ellist, TRANET
Annelies Borsboom and Fiona Dove, Transnational Institute, The Netherlands
Dr. Raoul Marc Jennar, Unit e de Recherche, de Formation et d'information sur la Globalistion (URFIG), Belgium, France and Switzerland
Volkmar Luebke, Die Verbraucher Initiative, Germany
Emmy Hafield, WAHLI/Friends of the Earth Indonesia
Clare Joy, World Development Movement, UK
Ricardo Carrere, World Rainforest Movement, international network (based in Uruguay)