UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Business and political leaders from around the world unveiled a set of global business principles designed to promote corporate responsibility in human rights, equal opportunity and safe workplaces. The Rev. Leon Sullivan, a Baptist pastor and former director of General Motors Corp., introduced the “Global Sullivan Principles,” an outgrowth of guidelines he introduced in 1977 for doing business with apartheid-era South Africa.
He was joined by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Amnesty International Director-General Pierra Sane, and several corporate CEOs, including those from Colgate-Palmolive Co., General Motors and Chevron.
Beyond Cash Donations: How New Forms of Giving Are Transforming Not-for-Profit Accounting
Evolving Funding Landscape for Not-for-Profits Not-for-profit organizations are being asked to do more with less,…
Learn More
“Human rights and social and political justice in communities and nations of the world will not be possible in the future without the global efforts of companies,” he said.
The guidelines introduced include: support for human rights of employees and communities, equal opportunity, respect for employees’ freedom of association, adequate wages, safe workplaces, and fair competition.
The principles “serve as a guide for responsible corporate behavior and provide an important external perspective,” said John Smith, Chairman and CEO of General Motors Corp.
Since taking over as U.N. secretary-general in 1997, Annan has urged world business leaders to adopt similar principles, including largely ignored U.N. protocols on labor and other rights. “It was once fashionable to say that corporations are responsible only to their shareholders,” Annan said Tuesday. “Today, enlightened business leaders recognize that their reputations and even their bottom lines are intimately tied to good corporate citizenship.”
Richard Howitt, a British member of the European Parliament, said the international business code of conduct was important to combat “abuse and complicity in abuse” by corporations operating in developing nations, especially in Africa, Latin America and Asia.
Businesses should pledge not to “seek competitive advantage by flouting principles that should be universally applied,” Howitt said.
“Disinvestment is not the answer to combating these problems of poverty and of oppression. Socially responsible investment is what is needed,” he said.
