Human Rights: Corporate Morals In The Globalocal Theater - enlisting corporate assistance in the fight for international human rights

Whole Earth, Summer, 1999 by Morton Winston

5. Emphasize SANCTIONS/DISINVESTMENT.

This tactic is even more adversarial. Its adherents hold that nongovernmental organizations can affect corporate policies and the policies of repressive governments by calling for the imposition of sanctions--for instance, in the form of government-mandated selective-purchasing laws--or disinvestment campaigns against companies that continue to do business that benefits such regimes. Here the strategy is to use government investment regulations on, or to actively withdraw investment from, offending companies, to control corporate behavior. It is allied philosophically with the economic pressure strategy, since it assumes that most companies will not change their behavior unless it is clearly in their economic interest to do so. The NGOs that use this approach try to make it unprofitable for companies to continue to behave in ways that conflict with human-rights agendas.

6. Emphasize GOVERNMENT REGULATION.

This approach is based on the belief that only national governments have sufficient power and authority to force companies to adopt ethical practices that protect human rights and the environment. Groups espousing this view tend to focus on enacting national or subnational legislation (unilateral sanctions, new-investment bans, or selective-purchasing laws). These efforts are hampered by multilateral trade and investment agreements such as NAFTA, GATT, and MAI, which make it difficult or impossible to enact appropriate kinds of laws at the national level. Such agreements are coming under increasing scrutiny by human-rights advocates.

7. Emphasize LEGAL ACTION.

Use the courtroom against the boardroom. Use the courts to sue transnational corporations, to get them to change their behavior, or to hold them accountable for human-rights violations committed by their business partners.

RELATED ARTICLE: Whole Earth's Access to Strategies for Human Rights

Corporations can no longer cry: "It's just business!" But how do citizens help them shape up? Dr. Winston painstakingly pointed us to several organizations employing the seven approaches described in his article. Decide where you fit, what moves you, whom you want to work with ... and call.

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL USA Business and Economic Relations Group 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, DC 20003. 202/544-0200, gamatang@aiusa.org, www.amnesty-usa.org.

AIUSA "talks" to companies using "Amnesty International's Human Rights Principles for Businesses," a checklist of human-rights concerns it feels companies should incorporate into their business practices. Contacts are coordinated internationally.

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH 350 Fifth Avenue, 34th Floor, New York, NY 10118. 212/290-4700, aganesan@hrw.org, www.hrw.org.

The eye on the world of human-rights violations. This veteran organization investigates and exposes abuses across the globe.

BUREAU OF DEMOCRACY, HUMAN RIGHTS AND LABOR US Department of State, Washington, DC 20520. 202/647-4000, www.state.gov/www /global/human_rights /business_principles.html.