UN offers firms 'logo for human rights' deal to companies giants
By Katherine Butler
26 July 2000
The United Nations secretary general, Kofi Annan, has been accused of
offering Nike, Royal Dutch Shell and other global corporations the right to
use the UN emblem and logo to help them rebrand their image.
Chief executives of 50 corporate giants have been invited by Mr Annan to the
UN headquarters in New York today to sign up to a voluntary "partnership"
scheme aimed at persuading them to end Third World sweatshops and corporate
environmental abuses.
The list of companies invited includes the global giants Nike, Shell, and
mining company Rio Tinto, all accused in the past of human rights violations.
The scheme in theory commits them to upholding nine human rights principles
including the rights of workers to unionise, the elimination of child labour
and the development of environmentally friendly technologies.
But the plan, which the UN is calling "the global compact", has provoked the
fury of a coalition of aid and environmental agencies and leading development
academics. They claim it will allow companies accused of human rights
violations to win UN endorsement and use the UN emblem to give their
corporate activities a branding makeover, while doing nothing of substance to
clean up conditions in their factories and industrial sites.
"It allows companies like Nike ... to wrap themselves in the UN flag without
any binding committment to change," said Joshua Karliner, executive director
of the San Francisco-based corporate monitoring group Trac (Transnational
Resource and Action). "This will enhance the Nike brand name and could be a
powerful marketing tool."
The scheme will require companies to post on a UN website regular information
about the steps they are taking to end sweatshop conditions and environmental
degradation. But they will be under no obligation to observe a code of
conduct or set minimum standards.
A letter to the secretarygeneral signed by 20 nongovernmental agencies
including Greenpeace said the initiative implied that UN official policy was
to supportcorporate-driven globalisation.
The voluntary nature of the initiative, without any monitoring or enforcement
procedures, would allow corporations to "wrap themselves in the flag of the
United Nations in order to 'bluewash' their public image while at the same
time avoiding significant changes to their behaviour", the letter said.
"Without monitoring, the public will be no better able to assess the
behaviour as opposed to the rhetoric of corporations."
John Ruggie, chief adviserto Mr Annan, said the initiative reflected concern
in the United Nations at the unfettered growth of globalisation.
He said labour organisations such as the International Confederation of Free
Trade Unions, human rights groups including Amnesty International, and
environmental groups such as the World Wide Fund, which have agreed to take
part, would not allow corporations to "hoodwink" the public. "It's about
making the world a better place," Mr Ruggie said.
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