The Need for Corporate Accountability at the WSSD

The World Summit on Sustainable Development, taking place in September 2002 in Johannesburg, South Africa, will be the tenth anniversary of the Earth Summit, as well as the tenth anniversary of the demise of the UN Code on Transnational Corporations.

Corporate lobbyists played an important role in that demise, emphasizing the increasing social responsibility of multinational corporations and the need for governments and the United Nations to focus more on voluntary initiatives to achieve the goals of sustainable development. At the same time, they argued against what they described as the "command and control" approach of more regulations and enforcement. Ten years later business and industry groups continue to lobby governments and the UN with the same message.

Despite all the talk about "corporate social responsibility" and "corporate citizenship," civil society organizations and communities around the world remain frustrated with the wake of environmental destruction, human rights abuses, violation of labor rights, health threats and economic devastation to communities left by corporate globalization. Despite the various "best practices" highlighting more ecoefficient production processes, community improvement programs, and multistakeholder dialogues, and despite the improved sustainablity rhetoric, many public interest groups and concerned citizens note how corporations and industry associations have also worked against the adoption and implementation of sustainable development policies and values.

Ten years after the Earth Summit, many people want to know what their governments and the United Nations are doing -- and not doing -- to hold companies accountable for the damage they cause and what they are doing to prevent further damage.