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OECD Watch

OECD Watch is an international network of NGO's promoting corporate accountability. The purpose of OECD Watch is to inform the wider NGO community about policies and activities of the OECD's Committee on International Investment and Multinational Enterprises (CIME) and to test the effectiveness of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.

http://www.oecdwatch.org/

(Added: Wed Oct 13 2004   Modified: Tue Aug 22 2006   Hits: 149)

Oil and Violence in Sudan Drilling, Poverty and Death in Upper Nile State

The discovery of oil in a developing country can be a blessing or a curse. In Sudan's case, oil exploration and development has helped fuel vicious warfare. The 2005 Sudan Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), which brokered an end to fighting between the Sudanese government and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), offers a framework to depart from that brutal legacy, but so far its promise has not been realized. The foreign-owned Petrodar Operating Company has served as a loyal partner of the government of Sudan. It has never raised its voice against the government's use of violence to clear the way for oil development. (Egbert Wesselink and Evelien Weller, Multinational Monitor, May/June 2006)

http://multinationalmonitor.org/mm2006/052006/wesselink.html

(Added: Wed Jan 10 2007   Hits: 61)

Olympic Corporate Sponsors: Rhetoric and Reality

Excerpts from all 12 "TOP" Olympic sponsor companies' policies on commitment to social responsibility and their comments on China, the Olympics, and human rights (Human Rights Watch,16 April 2008).

http://hrw.org/english/docs/2008/04/16/china18573.htm

(Added: Thu Apr 17 2008   Hits: 61)

On the Margins of Profit: Rights at risk in the global economy

People in countries across the world are regularly harmed when businesses fail to respect basic human rights, according to this report by Human Rights Watch and the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (CHRGJ) at New York University School of Law (February 2008).

http://hrw.org/reports/2008/bhr0208/

(Added: Mon Feb 25 2008   Hits: 109)

Our High Street Heroes

This article looks at how large supermarket chains and food corporations, known for 'unethical' behaviour, are increasingly trying to get a share of the 'ethical' market by stocking fairtrade lines of their prodcuct. (Tanis Taylor, New Consumer Magazine, March 2006)

http://www.newconsumer.com/views/item/here_come_our_high_street_heros/

(Added: Wed Apr 12 2006   Modified: Fri May 04 2007   Hits: 73)

Power hungry : six reasons to regulate global food corporations (PDF)

ActionAid, January 2005. This report, highlights the growing power of many global food companies. Multinationals such as Nestlé, Unilever, Monsanto, Parmalat, Cargill and Wal-Mart have gained control of the global food chain - all the way from seed to supermarket shelf and are threatening the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of poor farmers and undermining their basic rights. ActionAid calls for national and international legal obligations on companies to promote, secure and protect human rights and the environment. Immediate action is also needed to reform global food markets in order to stop multinationals abusing their power, so that farmers and producers get a fair deal.

http://www.actionaid.org.uk/wps/content/documents/power_hungry.pdf

(Added: Thu Feb 24 2005   Modified: Thu Jun 02 2005   Hits: 106)

Profiting from the Occupation: Corporate complicity in Israel's crimes

This 16-page report examines corporate involvement in the military occupation of Palestine, focusing in particular on the three sectors of construction, retail and transport. As well as providing information on the activities of these companies, the report calls on all readers to take action to bring them to account. (War on Want, July 2006)

http://www.waronwant.org/download.php?id=443

(Added: Thu Jul 13 2006   Hits: 46)

Publish What You Pay

The Publish What You Pay campaign aims to help citizens of resource-rich developing countries hold their governments accountable for the management of revenues from the oil, gas and mining industries. Natural resource revenues are an important source of income for governments of over 50 developing countries, including Angola , Congo-Brazzaville , Kazakhstan and Venezuela . When properly managed these revenues should serve as a basis for poverty reduction, economic growth and development. The Publish What You Pay coalition of over 200 NGOs worldwide calls for the mandatory disclosure of the payments made by oil, gas and mining companies' to all governments for the extraction of natural resources. This is a necessary first step towards a more accountable system for the management of natural resource revenues in resource-rich developing countries. The campaign was launched by George Soros and founded by Global Witness, CAFOD, Open Society Institute, Oxfam, Save the Children UK, and Transparency International UK.

http://www.publishwhatyoupay.org/

(Added: Wed Jun 16 2004   Modified: Mon Oct 31 2005   Hits: 177)

Race to the Bottom: Corporate Complicity in Chinese Internet Censorship

This 149-page report documents how extensive corporate and private sector cooperation - including by some of the world's major Internet companies, such as Yahoo!, Microsoft, Google, and Skype - creates censorship which abuses fundamental human rights in China. Legislation and a strong industry code of conduct are necessary to end the complicity of Western Internet companies in political censorship in China. (Human Rights Watch, July 2006)

http://www.hrw.org/reports/2006/china0806/

(Added: Mon Aug 14 2006   Hits: 89)

Resisting Corporate Power in Colombia: An Interview with Aviva Chomsky

Aviva Chomsky is professor of history and Latin American Studies at Salem State College in Massachusetts. She is also a founder of the North Shore Colombia Solidarity Committee, which has been working since 2002 with Colombian labor and popular movements, especially those affected by the foreign-owned mining sector. (Toward Freedom, written by Hans Bennett Monday, 05 February 2007)

http://towardfreedom.com/home/content/view/973/1/

(Added: Wed Feb 21 2007   Hits: 157)

Return of mining brings hope of peace and prosperity to ravaged Congo

An international scramble for the minerals of the Congo is under way, prompted by the end of the war and an imminent election. With copper prices at record highs, fuelled by demand in India and China, companies are competing to rehabilitate derelict sites. Billions of dollars will be made. The question is whether the boom will benefit the citizens of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where decades of misrule and conflict have left millions poor, malnourished and sick. (Rory Carroll, Guardian , 5 July 2006)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/congo/story/0,,1812843,00.html

(Added: Fri Jul 07 2006   Hits: 82)

Ruled by the Market?

In the first essay, David Bollier makes the case for why we need to protect our public resources from private encroachment. In the following nine essays, academics comment on his essay and make their own arguments on the nature of the market and the ownership of the commons. (Boston Review, Summer 2002)

http://bostonreview.net/ndf.html#Market

(Added: Mon Sep 11 2006   Modified: Fri Nov 10 2006   Hits: 109)

Running away from Responsibility?- buyer's guide to trainers and sports shoes

Investigating the issues and rating a number of key brands this buyer's guide give you the low down on trainers and sports shoes (Ethical Consumer).

http://www.ethicalconsumer.org/magazine/buyers/trainers.pdf

(Added: Tue May 06 2008   Hits: 148)

Shell Shocked: People of the Niger Delta fight back against violence and corruption

Over a decade has passed since the Nigerian government killed Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other Ogoni activists. Saro-Wiwa led a non-violent struggle against Royal Dutch Shell and other oil multinationals whose operations in the region were devastating the environment and livelihoods of local people. While the struggle remains the same today, the tactics have changed. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) is a well-armed, well-organized group of youth who aim to localize control of the Niger Delta's oil wealth and are demanding compensation for communities environmentally devastated by oil operations. The group has already shut down nearly one fifth of the country's oil production, and are hitting headlines with regular kidnappings of American oil workers. This article looks at the connections between multinational oil companies and Nigeria's military government, and to the links between deep poverty and foreign oil production in the Niger delta. (Hillary Bain Lindsay, Znet, March 23, 2006)

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=2&ItemID=9975

(Added: Mon Apr 03 2006   Modified: Tue Jun 27 2006   Hits: 107)

Skin Deep: Environmental working group's cosmetic safety database

protect human health and the environment: The Environmental Working Group's data gives you practical solutions to protect yourself and your family from the health risks we all face from everyday exposures to myriad industrial chemicals. In 2004 the EWG launched Skin Deep, an online safety guide for cosmetics and personal care products. Their aim was to fill in where companies and the government leave off: companies are allowed to use almost any ingredient they wish, and the government doesn't require companies to test products for safety before they're sold. EWG's scientists built Skin Deep to be a one-of-a-kind resource, integrating their in-house collection of personal care product ingredient listings with more than 50 toxicity and regulatory databases. (Environmental Working Group)

http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/index.php?nothanks=1

(Added: Mon May 21 2007   Hits: 64)

Slaves in Amazon Forced to Make Materials Used by GM

In this article labour inspectors visit Peru and Brazil, where slave labour is used to make products for export to the United States and Europe. Workers suffer severe health problems. The authors speak to human rights groups, the corporations and the authorities to find where the blame lies. (Michael Smith and David Voreacos, Bloomberg, 2 November 2006)

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=aMwWoD6G0Z9w&refer=latin_america

(Added: Fri Nov 03 2006   Modified: Thu Jan 18 2007   Hits: 188)

Smoke, Mirrors & Hot Air: How ExxonMobil Uses Big Tobacco's Tactics to "Manufacture Uncertainty" on Climate Change

This report documents ExxonMobil's central role in the current disinformation campaign about climate science, identifying the campaign's rationale, who's behind it, and how it has been able-so far-to successfully mislead the public, influence government policies, and forestall federal action to reduce global warming emissions. (Union of Concerned Scientists, Junuary 2007)

http://www.ucsusa.org/assets/documents/global_warming/exxon_report.pdf

(Added: Thu Jan 11 2007   Hits: 92)

Still Drilling

In this article Monbiot argues that the rebranding of Shell and BP is a fraud. For a company that claims to have moved "beyond petroleum", BP has managed to spill an awful lot of it onto the tundra in Alaska. Oil companies have seized upon the peak oil arguments of environmentalists to argue that if oil supplies are in danger, they must be permitted to prospect in new places. And while the aggression that characterised Shell's campaign against the Ogoni may have gone, their abuse of human rights and the environment continues unchecked. (George Monbiot, Guardian, 13th June 2006)

http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2006/06/13/still-drilling/

(Added: Wed Jul 05 2006   Hits: 75)

Stopping Firestone: Getting Rubber to Meet the Road

Liberia's impoverishment is directly related to the wealth generated from its natural resources; wealth that because of a history of inequality and exploitation benefits multinational corporations and some wealthy Liberians at the expense of the citizens of Liberia. However, many Liberians, along with international allies, are actively resisting this unjust system. On top of the basic exploitation of natural resources and wealth, some multinational corporations that operate there have been accused of human rights abuses (including child labor), environmental exploitation and of taking advantage of the inability or disinterest of previous Liberian governments to monitor its activities. One of these corporations, Firestone Natural Rubber Company a subsidiary of the Japanese company Bridgestone Americas Holding, Inc., has experienced increased international scrutiny for exploiting the people and natural environment of Liberia. (Roxanne Lawson and Tim Newman, FPIF, 7 December 2006)

http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/3766

(Added: Mon Dec 11 2006   Modified: Thu Dec 14 2006   Hits: 38)

Stopping the outcry before it starts

Brand-sensitive retailers act fast to defuse ethical issues before they explode into costly boycotts. McDonald's Europe, for instance, last month helped persuade agribusiness giants to stop buying soybeans from newly deforested tracts in protected regions of the Amazon. Also last month, Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott urged hundreds of suppliers at a Bentonville, Ark. summit to combat global warming by using less energy and incorporating alternative sources. And for the past two years, Tiffany & Co. has been calling on gold miners to end waste dumping in pristine lakes and adhere to international labor standards. (G. Jeffrey MacDonald, The Christian Science Monitor, 28 August 2006)

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0828/p14s01-wmgn.html?s=hns

(Added: Mon Aug 28 2006   Hits: 28)

Supermarkets' looming threats

Major chains are taking over the food-retail business in developing countries. That will have serious implications for agriculture, because traditional methods of production and sales are put to the test. Small-scale businesses that cannot cope are in danger of being left behind. (By Rudolf Buntzel, InWent 2008)

http://www.inwent.org/ez/articles/065101/index.en.shtml

(Added: Tue Feb 05 2008   Hits: 196)

Sweatshop Watch

Founded in 1995, Sweatshop Watch is a coalition of over 30 labor, community, civil rights, immigrant rights, women's, religious and student organizations, and many individuals, committed to eliminating the exploitation that occurs in sweatshops. Sweatshop Watch serves low-wage workers nationally and globally, with a focus on garment workers in California. We believe that workers should earn a living wage in a safe, decent work environment, and that those responsible for the exploitation of sweatshop workers must be held accountable. The workers who labor in sweatshops are our driving force. Our decisions, projects, and organizing efforts are informed by their voices,their needs, and their life experiences.

http://www.sweatshopwatch.org/

(Added: Mon Jul 21 2003   Modified: Thu Mar 10 2005   Hits: 148)

Tangled Up In Blue: Corporate Partnerships at the United Nations

Secretary General Kofi Annan has encouraged all UN agencies to form partnerships with the private sector. The centerpiece of this initiative is his Global Compact, launched with the agencies for environment (UNEP), labor (ILO) and human rights (UNHCHR) in July, 2000. This report argues that corporate influence at the UN is already too great, and that new partnerships are leading down a slippery slope toward the partial privatization and commercialization of the UN system itself. The Secretary General's office and UN agencies such as UNICEF, UNDP, WHO, and UNESCO are partnering with corporations known for human, labor and environmental rights violations. The Global Compact and its cousin partnerships at other UN agencies threaten the mission and integrity of the United Nations.

http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=996

(Added: Thu Sep 07 2000   Modified: Thu Jun 16 2005   Hits: 167)

Tell Coke to Listen to the People & Stop Draining Their Water!

If current trends continue, two-thirds of the world's population will not have enough water by 2025. In their quest for profits, corporations like Coca-Cola add significantly to the problem. Coke is expanding aggressively into the bottled water industry. Through water depletion, pollution, and price gouging, Coke's practices threaten water supplies around the world. This is the reality in India where Coke has drained so much water that at least five communities face severe water shortages and health problems. Corporate Accountability International is challenging Coke to stop stealing water from local communities.

http://www.stopcorporateabusenow.org/campaign/coke_stop

(Added: Thu Feb 15 2007   Hits: 349)

The 2007 Accountability Rating results launched

The world's largest corporations, with revenues of over $10 trillion, are becoming more accountable (3.6% improvement since 2006), according to the 2007 Accountability Rating results. BP is the top scorer in the 2007 Accountability Rating despite the latest headlines about the company.

http://www.accountabilityrating.com

(Added: Thu Nov 15 2007   Hits: 38)

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