12.07.2015 Views

From Poverty to Power Green, Oxfam 2008 - weman

From Poverty to Power Green, Oxfam 2008 - weman

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5 THE INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM TRADINGThat said, there is still a pressing need <strong>to</strong> address the lack ofglobal governance relating <strong>to</strong> businesses working in developingcountries, where the regula<strong>to</strong>ry framework and/or the capacity<strong>to</strong> enforce it is weak. There should be no double standards in theway that businesses operate at home and abroad.Sources: www.unglobalcompact.org; for a dauntingly comprehensive guide <strong>to</strong> globalbusiness and human rights, see: www.business-humanrights.org/Home.The UN, for one, thinks that the days of corporate impunity are coming<strong>to</strong> an end, with the UN Special Representative on CSR issues arguingthat,‘Corporations are increasingly recognized as “participants”at theinternational level, with the capacity <strong>to</strong> bear some rights and dutiesunder international law.’ 118Scrapping bad laws could help as much as passing good ones, andtwo prime candidates for the dustbin are the WTO agreements onTRIPS and TRIMS (Trade-Related Investment Measures), both ofwhich severely curb the ability of developing countries <strong>to</strong> use industrialpolicy effectively. An agreement <strong>to</strong> set a floor on global corporatetaxation would also ensure that poor countries avoid a regula<strong>to</strong>ry ‘race<strong>to</strong> the bot<strong>to</strong>m’, instead receiving a decent tax revenue with which <strong>to</strong>fund public services and infrastructure.The key test for efforts <strong>to</strong> improve the impact of TNCs in developingcountries is whether they strengthen or undermine efforts <strong>to</strong> buildactive citizenship and effective states. Wherever possible, TNCsshould be regulated by strong national governments, accountable <strong>to</strong>their citizens.The best initiatives already do this: supply chain initiatives basedon ILO Core Conventions strengthen labour rights and the voice oftrade unions in often hostile settings. The Extractive IndustriesTransparency Initiative (EITI) supports improved governance inresource-rich countries through the verification and full publicationof company payments and government revenues from oil, gas, andmining, providing the information that civil society watchdogs need<strong>to</strong> moni<strong>to</strong>r what their governments are doing with the income fromnatural resources. 119 Companies involved in the Ethical TradingInitiative have lobbied governments such as that of Bangladesh <strong>to</strong>improve the quality of their labour inspec<strong>to</strong>rates.351

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