Natural Resources and Violent Conflict - WaterWiki.net

262 philippe le billonadoption and implementation of effective measures to combat corruption,bribery, and embezzlement,” and from U.K. Prime Minister TonyBlair for their role in promoting responsible behavior on the part ofmultinational enterprises operating in conflict-affected areas of Africa.Yet the guidelines have also faced many comments and criticisms onthe part of civil society organizations, which fear that they will becomean alternative to a binding and enforceable instrument, including thefollowing (Feeney 2002):• Failure to incorporate “legal rights” for citizens and communitiesaffected by corporate activities incorporating the direct liability of“foreign multinationals” and failure to respect the principle of “equalityof arms” of appropriate complaints and judicial mechanisms• Weakness of consensual nonadversarial means and unenforceablerecommendations to be used by national contact points to addressallegations of violations• Restrictive demands put on civil society organizations to filecomplaints• Low level of prioritization and staffing among many nationalcontact points, including potential conflicts of interests because oftheir location within institutions primarily aimed at securing privatesector profitability overseas• No clearly specified time frames for dealing with complaints, so“flexibility” becomes a cover for inaction• “Creeping bias” toward confidentiality protecting the interestsof enterprises, with some national contact points demanding thatnongovernmental organizations do not make public the complaintsthey file—possibly to win the confidence of enterprises• Lack of separation between the promotional activities of thenational contact points and the investigative and conflict resolutionactivities, which should be assigned to an independent legal office (forexample, an ombudsman).It is difficult to assess the effectiveness of these guidelines and theimplementation mechanisms in part because of a lack of transparencyand centralization of cases and in part because of the novelty of thecompliance mechanism. Specific instances of application of the guidelinesinclude the following:• Complaints of forced labor in Myanmar by French enterprisesinvolved in the petroleum sector were raised by French labor unionswith the French national contact point, which led to consultationswith some of these enterprises and (nothing more than) public recommendationsby the national contact point on the practices that