UN
Global Compact Hard Pressed to Raise Its Standards, But Deigns to Answer
Questions
Byline:
Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS,
November 1 -- As the UN Global Compact talked Thursday about human rights, its
board members put their emphasis on the quantity of companies joining, and not
the quality of these companies' commitment. Inner City Press asked the Compact's
Mark Moody-Stuart if companies can be thrown out or suspended if they enable
regimes which torture and violate rights. Moody-Stuart said that the focus is to
bring companies up by inviting them to join. He added that there is a procedure
to consider systemic abuses. "Has it ever been used?" asked Inner City Press.
Moody-Stuart acknowledged that it hadn't. Video
here.
An NGO
representative on the board, Habiba Al Marashi of the
Emirates
Environmental Group, also spoke
of education companies. But when Inner City Press asked her if she thought some
companies would have to be expelled, she said yet. Video
here.
She came back to describe a so-called no carbon city being constructed in Abu
Dhabi. She said the UAE increasingly uses "alternative energy," an example of
which she gave as natural gas.
Moody-Stuart and Mr. Ban, standards
for expulsion not shown
A real
gas men, the CEO of Petrobras, also came to speak. Inner City Press asked him
about biofuels, and their conflict with farming and food. He acknowledged this
is a serious problem in Brazil, but claimed they are working on it. We'll see.
* * *
Click
here for a
Reuters
AlertNet piece by this correspondent about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army.
Click
here
for an earlier
Reuters AlertNet
piece about the Somali National Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000
contribution from an undefined trust fund.
Video Analysis here
Because a number of Inner City Press' UN
sources go out of their way to express commitment to serving the poor, and while
it should be unnecessary, Inner City Press is compelled to conclude this
installment in a necessarily-ongoing series by saluting the stated goals of the
UN agencies and many of their staff. Keep those cards, letters and emails
coming, and phone calls too, we apologize for any phone tag, but please continue
trying, and keep the information flowing.
Feedback: Editorial [at]
innercitypress.com
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UN, NY 10017 USA Tel: 212-963-1439
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Other, earlier Inner
City Press are listed here, and
some are available in the ProQuest service.
Copyright 2006-07 Inner City Press, Inc. To request reprint or other
permission, e-contact Editorial [at] innercitypress.com -
UN Office: S-453A, UN, NY 10017 USA Tel:
212-963-1439
Reporter's mobile (and weekends):
718-716-3540
