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At UN, BASF Dodges W. Sahara
Phosphorus Fall-Out, Global Compact's PetroChina Denial
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of
Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED
NATIONS, March 2 -- When
the UN Global Compact held a meeting on "current anti-corruption
efforts
by its corporate participants" last week, there were more than a few
ironies. Chosen by the Compact as its corporate participant and thus
poster-child was the chemical firm BASF. But when Inner City Press
asked BASF's
chief compliance officer Eckart Suenner about alleged irregularities in
his
firm's export of phosphate from the contested territory of Western
Sahara, and
the firm's refusal to make public an expert opinion it claims
legitimates the
transfer, Suenner dodged the question.
Not only at
the press conference on
February 26, when he said while he hadn't heard about, BASF has
policies on
"dual use and stuff," but in the three days since Inner City Press
sent him evidence of the refusal of Anne Forst of BASF's
"Sustainability
Center" to provide the expert opinion, no response from BASF has been
received. Video here,
from Minute 24:44. The
inquiry focused on a shipment of 25,000
tons of
phosphates from the Bu Craa mines in Western Sahara, carried by
the ship Novigrad to the harbor
of Ghent.
While the Global Compact claims to be moving toward
increased
transparency and credibility, its board recently
dismissed a detailed complaint
against PetroChina and subsidiaries for their activities in Sudan.
Faced with
widespread protest
of the dismissal, the Compact's Sir Mark Moody-Stuart has
written that the issue will be re-visited at an upcoming meeting of the
Compact's board.
Inner City Press
on February 26 asked when this will take
place, and for the views on the matter of another participant, Jermyn
Brooks, head of Global Private Sector Programs of Transparency
International.
Global Compact Executive Director Georg Kell argued that PetroChina is
not a
member of the Compact, only its subsidiary CNPC is. Video here,
from Minute
17:20.
UN's Ban and Global Compact, BASF's W. Sahara
phosphates not shown
In fact, the opposite appears to be true. In any
event, should Compact participants
be hiding behind a shell game of subsidiaries, in which all members of
a
conglomerate can cite an affiliate's membership in the UN Global
Compact, but
the most controversial parts of the company can say it was not them who
joined?
TI's Jermyn Brooks, who gave a detailed answer to
Inner City Press'
question about gray money being used to bolster the reeling banking
sector, at
least admitted he was "ducking" the PetroChina question, saying he
doesn't have enough information. When he does, and when the Compact
board
revisits the question -- Kell would not give a date -- we will have
more on
these matters.
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