MINNESOTA ADVOCATES FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
310 Fourth Avenue South, #1000, Minneapolis, MN 55415-1012 USA
Tel. 612/341-3302 Fax 612/341-2971, Email: hrights@mnadvocates.org
Main Website: www.mnadvocates.org
Minnesota Advocates’ Website of Sub-Commission 2004 developments: http://www.projecteleanor.com/2004
30 July 2004
Thank you Mr. Chairman.
I would like to talk about a personal experience, in my private employment, that helps to illustrate how influential the draft norms have been and how much the NGO community is already using them. I have followed the activities of this TNC working group for a number of years. But once I transferred employment into a major company I decided it would be better to step back and not be an advocate, although I followed the group’s activities closely. I work for a large telecommunications company, headquartered in Europe, with offices in more than 100 countries. I think under anyone’s definition this company is probably a TNC.
I had been talking to our Director of Corporate Social Responsibilty, telling him about the draft norms and encouraging the company to adopt them. Our code of conduct is pretty good and maps pretty well to the norms but progress was slow.
Then two weeks ago I was asked to review a new global agreement with our largest customer, who was demanding that we sign this agreement. They buy a large volume of equipment and services from us, so it was very important. They are probably 10 times bigger than our company. I was asked to help since my job is to provide legal counsel in contract negotiations. They were requiring this agreement be signed by all of their suppliers, probably about 1,000 companies.
I opened up this agreement and read the title:”Ethical Trading Agreement.” Then, there on page 2 – a reference to an obligation to comply with “The Draft Norms on Responsibilities of Transnational Corporations and Business Enterprises, adopted by the UN Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, August 2003.” I said great, we’re happy to sign these, and told them that I was in fact at the Sub-Commission when these standards were adopted and it was a great moment. They were impressed.
Now let me pause there and introduce another piece into this story. Geoffrey Chandler. Geoffrey attended some of this working group’s meetings, but quite frankly he couldn’t sit still that long so he didn’t attend much. But last year when we were waiting for the draft norms to be adopted, Geoffrey was calling David Weissbrodt almost daily to find out if they had been adopted yet. Geoffrey is a retired businessman in the UK who is passionate about this subject of business and human rights. He had been knocking on the doors of major corporations for many years, and recently for many months had been telling them about the draft norms and the need for those companies to adopt them. I believe Geoffrey’s influence is indicated all over this story I’ve just told you. He set up appointments last fall, immediately after the norms were adopted and pressed copies of the norms into the hands of these companies.
But stop and think what this means. I believe not only this company with a 1,000 or more suppliers has adopted these draft norms, but based on Geoffrey Chandler’s scheduling calendar alone, I’m sure there are dozens more major corporations or maybe a hundred or more who have now adopted these norms. Those companies in turn probably have hundreds or thousands of suppliers. Geoffrey Chandler is not the only NGO who is pushing these norms in the field. You remember last year, there were many other NGOs who spoke on behalf of these norms, who said that these norms would have an immediate impact in their work. They were here last year but not this year. Why? They’re working in the field with these draft norms.
So slowly but surely these norms are making their way into the business community. And I believe nothing can stop them now. There were some American expressions used yesterday to illustrate some points. I’d like to use one here – that the barn door has been opened, and all of the cows are now let out. You can close the barn door, but that doesn’t mean the cows are inside the barn.
So I think the Sub-Commission and this working group can be proud of what they accomplished last year and understand that even as we speak it is making a difference in the field.
Thank you Mr. Chairman.