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Global Public Policy Institute Newsletter

No. 4 - May 2006

Greetings!

 

This is the fourth newsletter of the Global Public Policy Institute (GPPi) and the first to come out of the new Berlin office on Reinhardtstr. 15.

 

In addition to providing you with an update on GPPi's work, this issue highlights recent discussions in the areas of Corporate Social Responsibility and the relationship between human rights and business.  Our newsletter appears three times a year to keep you informed about the institute, to post our newest publications, and to share interesting recent news on global public policy-making.  As always, further information can be found on our website: www.gppi.net.

 

 

Contents of this newsletter:

 

A) News from the institute

B) New and Active Projects

C) New Publications

D) Global issues in the news

 

A) News from the institute (all headlines link to article)

 

 

B) New and Active Projects

 

 

 

C) New Publications

 

 

Steets, Julia. Partnerships for Sustainable Development: On the Road to Implementation (Berlin, Seed Initiative and the Global Public Policy Institute, 2006).

 

UN Business Focal Point (New York, UN Global Compact, 2006).

 

Benner, Thorsten: „Ineffizient und unverantwortlich?": Die Doppelkrise des UN-Sekretariats – Diagnosen, Therapievorschläge, Genesungsaussichten, in: GPPi Research Paper Series No. 5. Berlin 2006.

 

 

D) Global issues in the news: 

 

 

Topic 1: The European Commission and Corporate Social Responsibility

 

 

1. Title: Brussels to Side with Business on CSR

 

From: The Financial Times, 12 March 2006 (registration required)

 

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/50b01a22-b1f8-11da-96ad-0000779e2340.html

 

Summary: The European Commission plans to side with business in largely excluding trade unions and non-governmental groups from a new European corporate social responsibility initiative, this recent article from the Financial Times argues.

 

"Officials confirmed the European Union’s executive body would launch a pro-business "European alliance for CSR" on March 22 in Brussels. Chief executives from several of the companies already involved in the initiative plan to join the launch ceremony.  The decision represents a defeat for trade unions and NGOs that have lobbied the Commission for years to introduce regulations and voluntary benchmarks on corporate accountability. Commission officials said the draft could still be subject to minor changes.  Günter Verheugen, EU industry commissioner, told the FT the Commission had moved towards a pro-business view on CSR over the past year. "Originally the Commission’s plans looked very different. The department responsible wanted to publish naming-and-shaming lists [of companies] and to create a monitoring system for the implementation of the CSR principles. I had to halt this enthusiasm for new regulations."

 

 

2. Title: European Commission Abandons Multi-Stakeholder Approach in CSR

 

From:  The Ethical Corporation, 4 April 2006 (registration required)

 

http://www.ethicalcorp.com/content.asp?ContentID=4201

 

Summary: After more than one and half years of silence the European Commission has finally published a new policy paper on corporate social responsibility. This paper is supposed to be the commission’s response to the outcomes of the European Multi-Stakeholder Forum on Corporate Social Responsibility that ended in 2004. The result, this article argues, is dramatic and neglects developments in international debate over the past ten years.

 

The multi-stakeholder approach, recognised by many as a basic principle in corporate social responsibility and promoted by the EU in the past, has been outright abandoned with this proposal, this article asserts. "The commission continues to attach importance to dialogue with all stakeholders, but also wishes to give recognition to enterprises as the primary actors in CSR," the policy paper says.

 

 

3. Title: CSR Initiative Provokes NGO Protests

 

From: Euractiv, 20 March 2006

 

http://www.euractiv.com/en/socialeurope/csr-initiative-provokes-ngo-protests/article-153518

 

Summary: A new proposal for an alliance on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) about to be launched by the Commission has been received with anger by NGOs and trade unions, who fear they will be excluded from the body. The proposed alliance will bring together mainly the Commission and enterprise.  This article provides background information, positions and responses from various organizations, as well as links to related articles.

 

 

4. Title: Implementing the Partnership for Growth and Jobs: Making Europe a Pole of Excellence on Corporate Social Responsibility

 

From: The European Commission, 22 March 2006

 

http://www.corporate-accountability.org/eng/documents/2006/europe_a_pole_of_excellence_on_csr.pdf

 

Summary: Acknowledging that enterprises are the primary actors in CSR, the Commission has decided that it can best achieve its objectives by working more closely with European business, and therefore announces backing for the launch of a European Alliance on CSR, a concept drawn up on the basis of contributions from businesses active in the promotion of CSR

 

 

Topic 2: Human Rights and Business

 

 

1. Title: John Ruggie Releases Interim Report on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights

 

From: UN Business-Focal Point Newsletter

 

http://www.enewsbuilder.net/focalpoint/e_article000554328.cfm?x=b11,0,w

 

Summary: In August 2005, Secretary General Kofi Annan asked the impossible of his former Assistant Secretary General John Ruggie: to succeed in creating consensus where the United Nations Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights 'Norms on the Human Rights Responsibilities of Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises' had failed.  This article takes stock of John Ruggie's work as special representative on human rights and transnational corporations so far, highlighting past accomplishments as well as challenges ahead.

 

2. Title: Commentary on the interim report of the Special Representative on Business and Human Rights

 

Author: Mary Robinson

 

From: Realizing Rights: The Ethical Globalization Initiative

 

http://www.realizingrights.org/images/stories/Position_on_Ruggie_reportFINAL.pdf

 

Summary: Mary Robinson presents her commentary on the interim report released by John Ruggie, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General on the issue of business and human rights.

 

3. Title: On Corporate Responsibility for Human Rights

 

Author: Klaus Leisinger, April 2006

 

http://www.reports-and-materials.org/Leisinger-On-Corporate-Responsibility-for-Human-Rights-Apr-2006.pdf

 

Summary: The debate on "business and human rights" has become a central theme on the international corporate responsibility agenda.  In this report, Klaus Leisinger, Special Advisor to the Secretary General on the Global Compact, stresses that there is no rational justification for sacrificing human rights for corporate profits, that companies are increasingly being assigned moral responsibility, and that human rights–related expectations should be dealt with in a constructive and positive way.

 

 

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