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February 27, 2003
International Right to Know Campaign Promotes Disclosure of Global Corporate Impacts
by William Baue
In a recent report, the International Right to Know Campaign outlines the benefits of corporate
disclosure of global environmental and social policies and practices.
SocialFunds.com --
In response to the 1984 toxic gas leak from a Union Carbide (ticker: UK)
pesticide plant in Bhopal, India, the U.S. Congress passed the Emergency Planning and Community
Right to Know Act (EPCRA) in 1986. This law established the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI), a publicly accessible database
that discloses corporate chemical releases. Within its first decade, the TRI almost halved
industrial toxic chemical releases, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
 However, as effective as these disclosure
regulations are in the U.S., they do not apply to overseas operations. The regulations, therefore,
do nothing toward preventing another Bhopal. This fact was highlighted in a report recently
released by the International Right to Know Campaign.
The International Right to Know (IRTK) Campaign is a coalition of more
than 200 environmental, labor, social justice, and human rights organizations that have joined
together to support international right to know legislation. IRKT is establishing guidelines that
encourage companies to disclose their global policies and practices. The guidelines cover not only
environmental impacts but also social impacts such as labor standards and human rights standards.
The report was written by IRTK Campaign member-organizations including Amnesty International USA, Friends of the Earth, Oxfam America, the Sierra Club, and Working Group on Community Right to Know. It outlines the positive
effects such disclosure would create for companies as well as for investors, consumers,
communities, and workers.
"Globalization has brought a 'race to the bottom,' as U.S.
businesses scramble to relocate to countries with the weakest environmental and labor standards,"
said Jason Mark of Global Exchange,
another member of the IRTK Campaign. "We need to ensure that when companies choose to take the low
road, they can't hide."
The report presents seven case studies of such egregious behavior
in international operations. The McDonald's (MCD) case study
illustrates the use of child labor in China to produce its Happy Meal toys, the Nike (NKE) case study focuses on
labor rights abuses in Indonesia, and the Unocal (UCL) case study discusses
human rights abuses in its use of security forces in Burma. The ExxonMobil (XOM) case study alone
illustrates several of the environmental as well as human rights abuses that the IRTK guidelines
are meant to expose.
Enron, which is now a poster child for the dangers of corporate
secrecy, is currently under federal investigation under the 1977 Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
This law, which prohibits U.S. companies from bribing foreign government officials, encourages
compliance by requiring companies to disclose all expenses and payments to foreign officials.
However, even this law does not cover all of Enron's transgressions; Human Rights Watch and Amnesty
International have documented human rights violations committed by private security forces hired to
protect an Enron-owned power plant in Dabhol, India.
"IRTK would close this loophole,
ensuring that companies like Enron cannot keep their misdeeds from the surface," the report states.
Independent commentators on the IRTK place it in a larger context.
"The corporate
governance scandals of the past 12 to 18 months have created real momentum toward disclosure and
transparency," said Bennett Freeman, principal of Washington, DC-based Sustainable Investment
Strategies and former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor in
the Clinton Administration. "The International Right to Know guidelines further advance the
disclosure momentum created by the Global Reporting Initiative and the Publish What You Pay
campaign."
The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) provides companies a framework for
disclosing their environmental and social practices, and the Publish What You Pay (PWYP) campaign presses companies
in the extractive sector to disclose their payments to governments where they operate.
Mr.
Freeman pointed out that it may take years to mandate the IRTK guidelines. However, this does not
necessarily diminish the significance of the IRTK campaign.
"Now that the campaign is out
here in the world, it has started to do its work," Mr. Freeman told SocialFunds.com. "It's already
driving best practice by companies that want to create competitive advantage through transparency
and disclosure."
©
SRI World Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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