Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Multinationals and Human Rights in the face of the UN Global Compact

Globalisation has brought rapid and profound changes in the political landscape, social-economic development and its side effects are felt and recognized by almost all the International Society, including Brazil.
The deepening gap between developed and developing countries has been denounced by almost all reports by nongovernmental organizations-NGOs However the neglect on the part of Governments should work with sanctioning policies whose intent would be to curb such abuses, and to measure compliance with the protection of human rights is fully begun.
As a result, companies and national and multinational, in the ceaseless quest for profit are likely to violate, disobey and disrespect to human rights protection to enhance its competitiveness and growth.
For this reason the United Nations-UN, which brings the Universality of Human Rights itself, as a system of freedom in which the human being is the priority of world attention, has sought new approaches to change that paradigm.
Although not all UN standards regarding human rights, are bound by a formal treaty in which states ratify and from which assume legal liability compulsory.
During the World Economic Forum in Davos (Switzerland) in 1999, was launched by former Secretary-General Kofi Annan the Global Compact or the Global Compact, an initiative that seeks to provide voluntary principles to promote sustainable growth in business. This is not a regulatory instrument, regulatory, sanctioning, a code of conduct or a system of management or business practices of ISO certification is just an ethical proposition.
The adhesion to occur with the signing of a document that establishes a company's commitment to supporting its business practices to the 10 principles that are based on four pillars: Human Rights, Labour Law, Environmental Law and Anticorruption.
The UN Global Compact has a solid base, and the initiative with the greatest visibility in a world with over 8,000 signatories in 135 countries.
In Brazil, the Constitution, promulgated in 1998 is our country into a democratic state, whose foundations are sovereignty, citizenship, human dignity, social values of work among others.
The federal constitution of 1998 aims to transform reality by setting goals for social action and state. Within these goals is the reduction of social and regional inequalities.
This goal is in addition to a fundamental goal is a guiding principle of national economic order, and total economic growth should be directed to the development of society.
Based on estimates by the World Bank in 2010, Brazil is now the 7th largest economy in the world. The Brazilian economy surpasses all other countries of South America and is expanding its presence in foreign markets through multinational corporations.
In general, the investment of transnational applied in the production of goods and services has a positive effect because it increases the resources that result in employment generation and on the other hand may have a negative effect when they involve the acquisition of local company as part of the process restructuring occurs layoffs.
Therefore, in 2000, the Ethos Institute for Business and Social Responsibility, pioneered the link between business and the Global Compact. In 2003 she created the Brazilian Committee of the Global Compact (CBPG) who is a volunteer group comprised of 32 national organizations, among them the very Ethos, which aims to promote the adoption and incorporation of the Global Compact principles in business management from companies.
For higher levels of corporate social responsibility. It was created by the stock exchange in Sao Paulo, BM & F Bovespa, the ISE-Sustainability Index is a response to growing interest in the country in sustainable finance and investment.
The Index measures the total return on a portfolio of stocks issued by companies are highly committed to corporate sustainability and social responsibility
Currently, with 373 Brazilian companies that have joined the Global Compact, this puts Brazil in 5th place in the number of signatories of South America as a way to strengthen the social responsibility movement in the country.
In practice the idea of creation of the Global Compact, considered only to assess corporate social responsibility, through a report on the performance indicators that must be submitted annually by the companies that become signatories.
In a social context the Global Compact, the UN approached the private sector, since this appearance reflected a major concern of the United Nations. To the extent that companies are taking that commitment, contribute to a process of learning and awareness in the defense of human rights.
States have the primary responsibility towards human rights in accordance with international law, but that does not mean that other actors are exempt from that responsibility.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is an example of how you can become significant advances in political and humanitarian norms.
The inclusion of human rights among the main goals of the UN, along with the maintenance of international peace and security and the promotion of sustainable development was essential to educate governments and society need to define and respect the fundamental rights of all humans .

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