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Although the UN Global Compact Office says it does not accept funding from tobacco companies, the Foundation for the Global Compact has recently accepted a donation from the Mansour Group. In 1992, Philip Morris signed a licensing agreement with the Mansour Group to produce, market, and distribute their tobacco products. To facilitate this new venture, the Mansour Group founded Al-Mansour International Distribution Company (AMIDC). Today, AMIDC is one of only 12 Philip Morris licensees operating in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The brands under this company today include Marlboro, Merit, L&M, Parliament, Virginia Slims and NEXT. In 2009, the Mansour group donated US$ 5,000 to 10,000 to the Foundation for the Global Compact. This year the Mansour Group has so far contributed an amount less than US$ 500.
The Foundation for the Global Compact has also accepted a donation from private military firm Aegis Defence Services Limited. In February 2008, the British anti-poverty charity
War on Want said in a press release that "Aegis mercenaries" had been involved in combat action 168 times since 2005 and that the company had seen eight employees killed. According to War on Want, Aegis' CEO "broke a UN arms embargo on Sierra Leone with his former company Sandline International, and was jailed in Papua New Guinea for earlier activities." Aegis Defence Services has donated an amount of less than US$ 1,000 to the Foundation for the Global Compact in 2010.
Established in 2006, the Foundation for the Global Compact raises funds from the private sector to support the work of the UN Global Compact. The foundation's website states that "all companies participating in the UN Global Compact are asked to make an annual voluntary contribution to the Foundation."
According to the UN Global Compact Focal Point in Australia, the Global Compact Office is asking for comments on a draft publication that examines the relationship between the draft International Standard on Social Responsibility (DIS ISO 26000) and the Global Compact. The publication is intended to provide “a high-level overview of the key linkages between the UN Global Compact's Ten Principles and the core subjects of social responsibility defined by ISO 26000 (human rights, labor practices, the environment, fair operating practices, consumer issues, community involvement).”
Comments can be submitted to rsain(a)ethics.org.au before 1 May 2010. The document is planned to be endorsed during this year's Annual Local Networks Forum, on 23 June 2010 in New York, and launched at the Global Compact Leaders Summit.
© photo by premasagar.
On March 24, in its first meeting of the year, the Global Compact Board approved a measure proposed by the Global Compact Office to introduce a one-year moratorium on delisting companies from non-OECD/G20 countries, following the recent removal of a high number of companies in these countries. According to the Global Compact Office, the measure was deemed necessary "pending a further review of the current Communication of Progress (COP) mechanism and its suitability for companies in emerging and less-developed economies". The one-year moratorium on the delisting of companies from most developing countries will be in effect until December 31, 2010. As a result, 347 companies that had been delisted between January 1, 2010 and March 1, 2010 have been reinstated.
The measure was taken in spite of an appeal by several experts to tighten the requirements on reporting progress. In November 2009, they sent a letter to the Global Compact Office with a request to review the Compact's application policy. In the letter, the experts expressed their concerns about the high number of non-reporting business participants and about the ease with which a company can be accepted as a participant in the Compact, gain the recognition and positive reputation benefits that come from this association, use the Compact logo in publications, and represent their organization as operating in concert with the Compact principles, all without having proven that their actions are in line with their stated commitment. The experts suggested that it would be preferable for companies to be accepted into the Compact only when they are ready to publish their first Communication on Progress. Unfortunately it seems that this idea was not discussed at the Global Compact Board meeting.
The moratorium given to business participants that fail to comply with the current (and weak) policy on communicating progress goes to show that the Compact continues to turn a deaf ear to dissenting voices.
© Photo by UN Photo / Paulo Filgueiras.
