[E-rundbrief] Info 498 - Business 'ignores' human rights

[Matthias Reichl]

E-Rundbrief - Info 498 -

Bad Ischl, 19.1.2007

Begegnungszentrum für aktive Gewaltlosigkeit

www.begegnungszentrum.at

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Thursday, 18 January 2007

DEVELOPMENT: BUSINESS 'IGNORES' HUMAN RIGHTS

by Moyiga Nduru

JOHANNESBURG (IPS) - From Iraq to Nigeria, 
multinational corporations are ignoring human 
rights, entrenching a culture of abuse and 
impunity that is difficult to eradicate, a 
leading anti-apartheid activist warns. Kader 
Asmal, a former South African minister of 
education, says the abuses run from environmental 
degradation around the world to the more than 
90,000 security contractors, engaged in murky 
multi-billion-dollar businesses, in war-torn Iraq.

"The contracts awarded lack accountability and 
transparency under international laws. Many of 
the companies, run by powerful countries, are 
liable for war crimes," said Asmal, a lawyer and 
a member of South Africa's parliament. No 
official record exists of the number of security 
firms in Iraq, some of which are believed to have been set up illegally.

But the Washington Post, quoting the military's 
first census of the growing population of 
civilians operating in the battlefield, said on 
Dec. 6, 2006, that about 100,000 U.S. government 
contractors operate in Iraq. They are involved in 
a range of military-related activities, including 
supplying army equipment, building military 
barracks and providing private security to senior Iraqi officials.

Like Asmal, the more than 150 participants who 
took part in a conference organised by the 
Pretoria-based Foundation for Human Rights on 
"business, accountability and human rights" in 
Johannesburg, Jan.16-17, generally agreed that 
the campaign to inculcate a culture of human 
rights in business is moving slowly. There is 
either a lack of interest, or reluctance, amongst 
entrepreneurs, said conference participants. "The 
word 'human rights' is a bogeyman for business," 
Yasmin Sooka, executive director of the 
Foundation for Human Rights, told IPS. "Business doesn't like human rights."

"This campaign is, therefore, a process. In South 
Africa we just emerged from apartheid 10 years 
ago. It's going to take time for us to catch up 
with the rest of the world," she said.

South Africa is learning the hard way. "We need a 
code of conduct for South African companies 
operating in the rest of Africa. I attended a 
meeting with well educated Africans who 
complained about the behaviour of South African 
companies. We must look at this issue. We don't 
want these companies to damage South Africa's 
reputation," Asmal said. Emphasising the need for 
a strict code of conduct, he said: "I am 
concerned that South African companies do not 
observe proper labour laws of the countries they operate in."

In the European Union and North America, business 
is slowly embracing human rights. Christopher 
Avery says 10 years ago he could not use the word 
human rights in addressing the business 
community. "That would cut off the discussion 
immediately. I used euphemisms such as the rule 
of law as a cover for human rights. Now the 
business world accepts the words 'human rights'," 
said Avery, who runs the U.S.-based website 
business-humanrights.com with a membership of 3,500 companies.

In a study published in December 2006, the 
Geneva-based Office of the United Nations High 
Commissioner for Human Rights found that North 
American and European companies are leaders in 
their inclusion of human rights standards in 
areas such as supply chain management.

The study, "Business Recognition of Human Rights: 
Global Patterns, Regional and Sectoral 
Variations", said two-thirds of the U.S. 
companies in the sample and about 60 percent of 
the Europeans address human rights concerns. 
"Some 66 percent of the companies recognise both 
freedom of association and the right to 
collective bargaining. Nearly 75 percent of 
European companies recognise both rights. In 
contrast, 63 percent of North American companies 
and around 50 percent of companies from each of 
the remaining regions -- Asia, Pacific and Africa 
-- recognise these rights," said the study, 
authored by Michael Wright and Amy Lehr.

The study also looked at child labour, a serious 
problem in Africa and Asia. It found that 
"European and North American firms average around 
65 percent recognition for abolition of forced 
and child labour. European and North American 
firms average around 65 percent recognition for 
both prohibitions, Asia and Pacific companies 
around 50 percent, while three of the five 
African companies mention the prohibition against 
slavery and forced labour, and a mere 25 percent 
mention the abortion of child labour."

Sufian Bukurura, a professor of law at South 
Africa's University of KwaZulu Natal, said the 
United Nations started making serious links 
between human rights, business and development 
only in 1989. Even so, Bukurura said, 
self-interests often influence government 
decisions. He cited the British government's 
dropping a fraud probe into a Saudi arms deal in 
December 2006, as something based on London's 
interests rather than on combating corruption.

The United Nations Global Compact, established in 
2000, engages firms in implementing human rights, 
labour standards, environmental and 
anti-corruption practices. It has more than 3,000 
members, with over half of the companies from developing countries..

"When I was in the Office of the United Nations 
High Commission for Human Rights, I encouraged 
the Commission to promote the norms of business 
ethics. But most businesses were opposed and 
terrified of the norm," Mary Robinson, former UN 
High Commissioner for Human Rights, told the 
Johannesburg gathering. "Some, however, borrowed 
the norm, modified it and distributed it to other 
companies. As a person with no business 
background, I learned a lot from the networking 
and discussions that followed," said Robinson, 
founder in 2002 of Realising Rights: The Ethical Globalisation Initiative.

Also addressing the event, Frene Ginwala, vice 
chancellor of the University of KwaZulu Natal, 
criticised organisations like Transparency 
International for focusing on bribe takers 
instead of on bribe givers. "We are not going to 
tackle the problem of corruption until we involve citizens," she said.

Hassan Lorgat, chairman of the South African 
branch of Transparency International, said the 
terrain of corruption is dominated by 
multinationals with money. "My role is to push 
for a development agenda within transparency international," he told IPS.

When former Anglican archbishop Desmond Tutu was 
appointed chairman of the Truth and 
Reconciliation Commission (TRC), Sampie 
Terreblanche, professor of economics at South 
Africa's Stellenbosch University, appealed, along 
with a colleague, for a Business Truth Commission.

The aim was to investigate allegations of 
apartheid era-crimes committed by multinational 
companies such as the mining giant, 
Anglo-American. "Some of these companies assisted 
apartheid and exploited black people for a 
century," he said in a conversation with IPS.

Unfortunately, local entrepreneurs were 
conspicuously absent from the conference. An 
organiser told IPS that they had invited business 
people from the local community, but they didn't 
turn up. One businessman, who requested his name 
be withheld, told IPS it was unfortunate for the 
conference to be criticising the business 
community for not adhering to the principle of 
human rights. Only constructive engagement, he 
said, would address human rights issues in 
business. (END) federico nier-fischer fnf_comunicaciones

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