Oops! & More Human Rights Inc.

[dawnstar@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Neil, wherever you are, we are both and wrong. The article you refer to
in the FT, Dec 10 (Personal View) by Geoffrey Chandler, chair, Amnesty
International UK business group, "The wagaes of oppression" is indeed in
the FT, page 14. I must admit, it somehow, quite impossibly, most
deceptively, escaped my attention. Thank you for your alerting the group 
of a needless gross deception. Today, it popped up again, suddenly, and
most unexpectedly, on p 12 of the Monday FT edition, in a letter 
headlined 'Companies in the context of oppression', by yours truly Sir
Geoffrey Chandler, citing a mistake by the FT!! (what hard times we live
in!) euphemistically and generously by Sir Chandler as an "editorial
change to the text of my article distorts my meaning...". That kind of
change is enough to get the boot from a newspaper senior editor! 

Well, down to business.

Sir Chandler's editorial personal view story leads off: "Companies must
take an active part in defending human rights. They may not be able to
solve the world's problems but they can contribute to solutions."
Chandler calls most companies "dangerously shortsighted", saying "In
many regions, civil war, with human rights violations that are both its
cause and effect, has replaced interstate conflict. Nine out of 10
victims are civilians." 

And since the article even spotlights "Myanmar", well, lets see it: 

extract: 

"As the deaths of four western telecommunications workers in Chechnya
tragically illustrated this week, violence and the arbitrary application
of the fule of law threaten the operations and personnel of
transnational corporations. Similar dangers are faced in Nigeria,
Columbia, Algeria, China, Myanmar, and other countries where economic
opportunity exists in a context of a dictatorship or internal strife."

extract: 
"A few companies, such as Levi Strass, the Body Shop and the Co-op Bank,
have long built human rights into their decision-making crtieria, but
they are tiny on the world stage. It is only in the last two years that
we have witnessed the beginnings of wider change."

(obviously, the free burma movement and the widespread effective use of
the internet has been a significant part of encouraging this change)
the current push against burma garment imports into the us is part of
the next message.

extract: "Those closest to the pressures of a criticial consumer society
-- the supermarkets and the retailers of clothing, footwear, toys,
sports goods, and cosmetics -- are increasingly engaging in the UK's
ethical trading initiative. Together with the Council on Economic
Priorities' auditable social accountability standard, the principles
which should underlie labour conditions in the companies' supply chains
in the third world are being tackled."

now see this, hey, TOTAL, are you there? Perhaps this is part of the
Total window dressing in Rangoon, appearing with french diplomatic
support to back SPDC's medical hospital ceremonies recently.

extract:
"Despite their huge financial intereset in peace and stability,
international companies have long been reluctant toface the wider impact
of their economic role. Of greater significance therefore have been the
explicit acknowledgment by Shell in 1997, and by BP and Rio Tinto this
year, of a responsibility for human rights. The three companies have
expressed support for the UN's declaration of human rights. The
mincentives to changae have been reputational damage and pressure from
non-governmental organisations such as Amnesty International, rather
than corporate leadership. And the committment to implementation and
independent auditing, in which Shell has advanced furthest, have yet to
be demonstrated in practice."

Oh, no. Here's a rehash of "constructive engagement":
extract: "But it is a vital breakthrough, as a result of which companies
and the non-profit sector now recognize that neither can fulfil their
objectives without the other and that mutual hostility and ignorance
nees to be substituted by constructive egagement."

extract: "Without positive leadership, companies will not only be
putting their profits at risk, they will be endangering their licence to
operate in the future."

maybe if i have time i will clip it and send it to TOTAL CEO
Theirry Desmarest.

well, again, thanks neil, 
ds