RIGHTS: THE SCARIEST PREDATORS IN THE CORPORATE JUNGLE
Thalif Deen
NEW YORK - The world's oil, gas and mining industries account for nearly two-thirds of all violations of human rights, environmental laws and international labour standards, according to a soon-to-be-released United Nations study.
The food and beverages industry is a distant second, followed by apparel, footwear, and the information and communications technology sector.
"The extractive industries -- oil, gas and mining -- also account for most allegations of the worst abuses, up to and including complicity in crimes against humanity," says the interim report titled "Promotion and Protection of Human Rights". A more detailed study is expected to be released later this year.
These are typically for acts committed by public and private security forces protecting company assets and property; large-scale corruption; violations of labour rights; and a broad array of abuses in relation to local communities, especially the indigenous peoples.
Asked for her comments, Kathryn Mulvey of Corporate Accountability International told IPS that human rights abuses by extractive industries are among "the most concentrated, visible and urgent to address".
"Abuses by other industries such as tobacco, which claims five million lives around the world each year, have not typically been framed as human rights issues, but that is changing," she said.
The interim UN study, by a team headed by John Ruggie, a special representative of Secretary-General Kofi Annan, was conducted in response to a resolution by the now-defunct UN Commission on Human Rights.
"The problems of corruption and the misallocation of public revenues have been endemic," the report points out. "They undermine the rule of law, impede the pursuit of social objectives, and contribute to conflicts that frequently foster human rights abuse.."
"There being no global repository of comprehensive, consistent and impartial information, we cannot say with certainty whether abuses in relation to the corporate sector are increasing or decreasing over time, only that they are reported more extensively because more actors track them and transparency is greater than in the past," the report points out.
According to the Geneva-based UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), there are some 70,000 transnational firms worldwide, together with roughly 700,000 subsidiaries, and millions of suppliers spanning every corner of the globe.
Last week, Ruggie met with several non-governmental organisations (NGOs), including human rights groups, mostly based in New York, primarily to brief them on the progress made in relation to protection of human rights vis-a-vis transnational corporations. "The general mood was that his interim report leaned way too much in accommodating business priorities," a spokesman for one of the participating groups told IPS.
He said that Ruggie is planning several regional consultations, including one in Colombia and another in Thailand in late June. "He wants to do site visits to companies, as well as affected communities."
Mulvey said that in most industries -- from water to tobacco -- "transnational corporations engage in irresponsible and dangerous actions". "When campaigns have been organised to protect people and save lives, we have won gains on an issue-by-issue basis," she added.
To reverse the tobacco epidemic, health and human rights advocates have a great tool in the first global corporate accountability treaty, formally known as the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
"But in a world where more than one billion people don't have safe water to drink, we must strengthen and enforce international legal instruments to prevent corporate interference in the human right to water," she added.
"Transnational corporations are responding to the demand that they be accountable to people and communities, but in the long run, democratic global institutions and enforcement mechanisms are necessary to stop abuses," Mulv (END)
