Global Compact

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The logo of the Global Compact

Global Compact or United Nations Global Compact is the English name for a worldwide pact (German: Global Pact of the United Nations ), which is concluded between companies and the UN in order to make globalization more social and ecological. There is a risk of confusion with the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration and with the Global Compact on Refugees .

On January 31, 1999 , the pact was officially offered to all interested business leaders by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos. The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) was not only the first, but for a long time also the only contact from business to take up this initiative. In July 1999 the ICC and Kofi Annan agreed to work closely together. The ICC won the first 50 multinationals. The operational phase started on July 26, 2000 in New York .

Principles

Participation in the Global Compact is justified by a short letter to the UN Secretary General . In it, a company declares its will to endeavor to comply with certain social and ecological minimum standards in the future. These principles are summarized in ten principles, which are reproduced here accordingly.

Companies that sign the Global Compact should ...

  1. Respect internationally proclaimed human rights and promote compliance within their sphere of influence.
  2. ensure that they do not participate in human rights abuses.
  3. the rights of their employees respect to organize themselves in unions, as well as effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining.
  4. exclude all forms of forced labor or forced labor.
  5. contribute to the abolition of child labor .
  6. exclude any discrimination in relation to employment and occupation.
  7. take a precautionary attitude towards environmental hazards .
  8. Take initiatives to promote greater environmental awareness .
  9. encourage the development and diffusion of environmentally friendly technologies.
  10. stand up against all forms of corruption , including extortion and bribery.

The fight against corruption was subsequently taken up.

The undersigned companies should write an annual report on it.

Involved

More than 13,000 participants worldwide committed to the ten principles of the Global Compact by mid-2018, including around 10,000 companies. Since the Global Compact is a multi- stakeholder network, not only companies but also civil society, research institutions, business and employee associations and municipalities participate.

The following organizations participate on the part of the UN:

In 2005, the President of the Novartis Foundation for Sustainable Development, Klaus Leisinger , was appointed Special Advisor for the Global Compact by Kofi Annan , Secretary General of the United Nations, to succeed John Ruggie .

Some of the participants come together in national networks. Over 80 of these national networks have now been established or are emerging.

The German Global Compact Network

The German participants have been organized in the German Global Compact Network Foundation since 2000 . The network includes 20 of the DAX 30 groups , small and medium-sized companies as well as scientific institutions such as the Free University of Berlin and non-governmental organizations such as Amnesty International and Transparency International .

In 2001, the network was coordinated by today's German Society for International Cooperation , a state organization for development cooperation . This is done on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and the companies in the Global Compact as well as in coordination with the Federal Foreign Office and the International Chamber of Commerce .

Yearbooks

The Global Compact Yearbook Germany

The Global Compact Yearbook Germany has been published since 2004 and bundles the most important topics from the areas of human and labor rights, environmental protection and the fight against corruption in the cover section. It is based on the ten principles of the UNGC. The inner section offers companies the opportunity to present “best practice” examples of their commitment in these areas, thus following the shared learning approach of the Global Compact.

The yearbook is traditionally a non-commercial project. In order to finance the production costs incurred, the participants in the German Global Compact network contribute financially.

The authors of previous editions include Ban Ki-moon , Angela Merkel , Georg Kell, Jørgen Randers , Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul and Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker .

The Global Compact International Yearbook

The International GC Yearbook has been published since 2009 and follows the German edition in terms of content and structure. The yearbook is published in English. The target group are the participants of the Global Compact (UNGC), companies and their stakeholders, investors, politicians, non-governmental organizations and universities. The proceeds from worldwide book sales go to the “Foundation for the Global Compact”.

In cooperation with the UN Global Compact Office in New York, current topics are highlighted. At the same time, regional networks can present themselves. As in the German edition, companies are given the opportunity to present “best practice” examples inside. All contributions also appear online.

The authors of the International Yearbook included: Ban Ki-moon , Georg Kell, Jerome Glenn, Michael Hastings , Marc Lee and Achim Steiner .

criticism

The principles of the Global Compact are minimum standards based on documents that are accepted by a large part of the international community and have therefore already been incorporated into national case law. They are therefore criticized as too weak and ineffective.

In addition, compliance with the criteria is voluntary. There are no sanctions if a company does not meet the goals it has set itself. Currently the only instrument of the Global Compact is the obligation to annual communication, which is to report on progress and problems in the development of the company. Non-communicating companies are listed separately on the organization's website; if they fail to do so twice, participation is considered terminated. However, the content of the reports submitted is not checked and is therefore only a voluntary self-assessment. The guidelines of the Global Reporting Initiative are recommended as possible, but non-binding standards for these sustainability reports.

The low entry barrier also means that companies that violate the principles are also on the list of participants. It is therefore not apparent from the outside whether the company actually complies with the guidelines or is at least in a process of improvement, or regards membership in the organization as a promotional measure.

In summary, the criticism is that the companies involved are not entering into any obligation with the Global Compact, but are misusing it as a promotional tool. You benefit from the serious reputation of the UN without actually complying with minimum social and ecological standards. Alluding to the blue color of the United Nations this behavior is called BlueWash ( blue wash called). Some non-governmental organizations have therefore threatened to leave the pact if it does not become more binding.

Mary Robinson, High Commissioner for Human Rights of the United Nations by September 2002, noted in 2004 that you would have to wonder why the Global Compact based on voluntary not reach its goals.

In 2010, the Global Compact's water mandate received the negative Public Eye Award in the “ Greenwash ” category .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Practical guide for creating a progress notification - PDF 5.5 MB
  2. ↑ https://www.globalcompact.de/de/ueber-uns/deutsches-netzwerk.php
  3. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original dated November 4, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / csr-manager.org
  4. ↑ Onur Karaarslan: United Nations Global Compact - Global Impact? In: Current Business Law. Berlin School of Economics and Law, February 22, 2017, accessed on June 29, 2017 .
  5. ^ "Resistance alone is not enough". Neue Zürcher Zeitung of January 22, 2004. Accessed December 18, 2016.

See also

literature

  • Global Compact Germany 2012, macondo Verlag, Münster, ISBN 978-3-9813540-4-1 .
  • Hoessle, Ulrike (2013): The contribution of the UN Global Compact to compliance with international regimes. A comparison of companies from the USA, Mozambique, the United Arab Emirates and Germany. Baden-Baden, Nomos, ISBN 978-3-8487-0191-9 .

Web links