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11 August, 2005ICEM News release No. 3/2002
World business, labour and civil society leaders met in New York today at the first session of the Advisory Council on UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Global Compact initiative.
The UN called the meeting "unprecedented", and said it marked "the creation of the first UN advisory body composed of both public and private sector leaders, who together will assist the Secretary-General in his effort to promote cooperative solutions to the dilemmas and challenges of globalisation."
Annan launched the Global Compact at the Davos economic forum in 1999, when he called on world business to:
- support and respect the protection of international human rights within their sphere of influence
- make sure their own corporations are not complicit in human rights abuses
- uphold freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining
- uphold the elimination of all forms of forced and compulsory labour
- uphold the effective abolition of child labour
- uphold the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation
- support a precautionary approach to environmental challenges
- undertake initiatives to promote greater environmental responsibility
- encourage the development and diffusion of environmentally friendly technologies.
These "Nine Principles" - including freedom of association and collective bargaining - form the Global Compact.
"The Global Compact, an entirely voluntary initiative, has attracted the participation of several hundred companies from countries such as Russia, China, Brazil, India, Germany, Norway, Indonesia, Thailand, the United Kingdom, the United States, and other UN member states from both North and South," the UN says.
"The world is currently involved in an ongoing historical experiment: attempting to create a truly global and inclusive market," Annan told the Advisory Council today.
"We must work to underpin the marketplace with solid and stable foundations," Annan insisted, "and open the door to full participation by all people, including and especially the world's poor. The Global Compact gives us a tool for achieving that.
"Good progress has been made in many areas," he said. "More and more companies are responding to the call, changing strategies and actions to inform entrepreneurship with society's needs."
He challenged the Advisory Council to "think creatively about measures that might enhance the quality and concrete impact of participation in the Compact." The 17 members of Advisory Council - all acting in their individual, rather than institutional capacities - have been asked by the Secretary-General to serve rotating terms of two and three years. The Advisory Council will convene for formal meetings twice a year.
After an open discussion with Annan about the goals and objectives of the Global Compact, today's meeting examined current operations as well as the procedures and policies governing participation. They then held further in-depth discussions before briefing the UN Secretary-General on specific recommendations.
Labour representatives on the Advisory Council are Fred Higgs, General Secretary of the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) and Bill Jordan, General Secretary of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU).
"The Global Compact, like any successful voluntary initiative, needs to be a dynamic, credible process, subject to ongoing review and development," Higgs said. "I believe the advisory process is extremely important to ensure that the Global Compact continues to be relevant and credible."
Business leaders on the Advisory Council include Barbara Krumsiek, President and CEO of Calvert; Marjorie Yang, Chairman of the Esquel Group; Dr. Rolf Breuer, CEO of Deutsche Bank AG; Robert Hormats, Vice Chairman, Goldman Sachs; Sam Jonah, Chief Executive, Ashanti Goldfields Company Limited; Namakau Kaingu, CEO, Kaingu Mines; Mark M. Moody-Stewart, retired CEO, Royal Dutch Shell; N. R. Narayana Murthy, Chairman and CEO, Infosys Technologies Limited; Wolfgang Sauer, retired CEO, VW of Brazil; Marjorie Scardino, CEO, Pearson plc and David Bell, Executive Director, Pearson plc.
Civil society organisation representatives and academic experts include Achim Steiner, Director-General of the World Conservation Union; Irene Khan, Secretary-General, Amnesty International and Colm O'Cuanachain, Chairperson of Amnesty International's Executive Committee; Jessica Mathews, President, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; and Professor John Ruggie, of the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.
The Permanent Representatives of five UN member states - from both North and South - are serving on the Advisory Council in their personal capacity, as observers.