Natural Resources and Violent Conflict - WaterWiki.net

298 john brayAs is seen below, the extent to which company initiatives shouldoverlap with, or replace, government programs is a particularly sensitiveissue in zones of actual or potential conflict.Constructive Engagement?All reputable businesses acknowledge a responsibility to treat theirwork force fairly. Most now also acknowledge a wider duty to localcommunities. However, companies are generally unwilling to acceptresponsibility for the host government’s use of the revenues they help toproduce. Many activists contest this view. For example, Oxfam PolicyAdviser Sophia Tickell argues, “A successful community program thatbenefits 100,000 people is important, but counts as nothing if the taxesyou are paying keep in power a corrupt and dictatorial government”(cited in Ward 2000, p. 4).As the Myanmar and Sudan case studies show, nongovernmentalorganizations have argued that foreign companies in those countrieshelp to preserve illegitimate governments while giving them the financialresources to crack down on opposition movements. Companiesare likely to face similar arguments in other conflict-affected regionsruled by controversial governments.Company Policies on RiskIndividual companies adopt differing strategies on investment and conflict,and these depend both on their resources and on their attitudes torisk. The personalities of individual chief executive officers and boardsof directors play an important role in deciding company policy. Otherfactors include size, stock market listing, and legal reform.Defining Company PolicyThe board of directors has overall responsibility for defining policieson investment risk and on ethical issues such as the company’s policyon human rights. These policies depend both on the company’s internalculture and on its market positioning.Some companies have taken a deliberately robust approach to highriskenvironments and informed their sponsors accordingly. Theseinclude the U.K. independent Premier (currently or recently active inAlbania, Guinée Bissau, Indonesia, Myanmar, and Pakistan) andthe Malaysian company Petronas (currently active in 15 internationalmarkets including Algeria, Iran, Myanmar, Sudan, and Turkmenistan).The French company TotalFinaElf claims to be ahead of its competitors