Global Compact membership does not translate into better labor conditions

Yesterday, at a press conference in the UN headquarters in New York, Consumers International presented the report Checked out: Are European supermarkets living up to their responsibilities for labor conditions in the developing world?. Consumers International is a federation of consumer groups that, working together with its members, serves as an independent and authoritative global voice for consumers. It has over 220 member organizations in 115 countries.

According to Consumers International's researchers, there is a need for supermarket initiatives to rapidly expand their scope to cover food supply chains in developing countries. Policies on labor conditions and trading relations should be developed and implemented through multi-stakeholder processes wherever possible and processes should be put in place for independent verification.

In an answer to a question from Matthew Lee of Inner City Press, Catherine Nicholson, author of the report, said: "We asked all companies that took part in the survey whether they signed up to the Global Compact, but we only analyzed in detail initiatives that had some operational aspect. Looking at companies that said they were signatories to the Global Compact and their operational policies that could translate into real benefits on the ground, there was no correlation. So I think that is something that perhaps needs to be fed back" (click here for a video).

Let us hope that the Global Compact is willing to act on the feedback it has received from several civil society organizations in the past three years, before the upcoming Leaders Summit in June this year.

Ban Ki-moon urged to remove Brazilian ranchers from Global Compact

Survival International is calling for Brazilian cattle-ranchers involved in a controversial scheme to bulldoze uncontacted Indians’ land in Paraguay to be removed from the UN Global Compact.

The cattle-ranchers' company, Yaguarete Pora S.A., is a participant in the Compact. According to Survival International, Yaguarete is destroying land that belongs to the Ayoreo-Totobiegosode tribe, in flagrant violation of both Paraguayan and international law. The company is the proprietor of 78,549 hectares of ancestral Totobiegosode land and intends to leave only 16,784 hectares of it as "continuous forest."

Yaguarete joined the Compact in January 2008, just months before it started to bulldoze the Totobiegosode's forest. Survival believes that the company is violating the Compact’s first two principles: 1) "Businesses should support and respect the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights; and 2) make sure that they are not complicit in human rights abuses."

Some Totobiegosode Indians who have already been contacted have repeatedly criticised Yaguarete's work on their land. The forest being destroyed is the subject of a legal claim submitted by the Totobiegosode in 1993.

Survival's director, Stephen Corry, said today, "Yaguarete cannot be said to be committed to 'aligning their operations with human rights'. We urge the Compact to blackball Yaguarete from the initiative now – if it doesn’t, it runs the risk of losing all integrity". In a letter sent to UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon in February this year, Mr. Corry said something similar: "Yaguarete’s participation in the Compact runs the risk of making a mockery of the initiative and calling into question its integrity and worth." 

Survival’s letter to Ban Ki-moon, who is also the chair of the UN Global Compact Board, is available here.

© Photo by Survival International.

Company reapplies to the Global Compact after being named and shamed in the Financial Times

Spice, a British utility support services provider, was one of the 859 companies that were delisted by the UN Global Compact in February this year. The company was expelled because it had failed to send a progress report to the Global Compact Office. Every business participant in the Compact is required to submit its first Communication on Progress within one year from the date of joining the initiative.

Unfortunately for Spice, it was mentioned in the Financial Times as a company that had "failed" the UN Global Compact. Other companies named and shamed in the Financial Times' article were Visteon, Global Alumina, Lionbridge Technologies and Altana.

According to Environmental Analyst, Spice has been quick to reapply for membership. Spice told Environmental Analyst that it "has submitted all the necessary paperwork to the UN Global Compact initiative including the annual Communication on Progress". Last year, Spice failed to respond to a carbon emissions survey of FTSE 350 companies organised by the Carbon Disclosure Project.