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Signatory companies to the United Nations’ Global Compact that fail to deal with allegations that they are not observing its principles could effectively be removed under plans for a complaints system put forward by the UN’s Compact Office.
The Office has been consulting on draft ‘integrity measures’ over the past month and is expected to make recommendations on the matter to UN secretary general Kofi Annan in the next eight weeks.
Under the plans the Office would act on ‘non-frivolous’ complaints by asking the company concerned to respond in writing to the complainant, with a copy sent to the Office, and to keep it informed of any action taken and assist ‘as necessary and appropriate’.
If the company’s response is judged inadequate, the Office would ‘reserve the right to remove it from the list of signatories and to announce that it has done so on the compact website.’ Affected companies would become ‘inactive’, losing the right to declare they are signatories in their CSR literature, to use the logo on training materials or to attend Compact events. If they later took action to deal with the complaint, their status would be restored.
They would also become ‘inactive’ if they fail to report for two years in a row what they are doing to implement the ten principles covering corruption, human rights, discrimination and environmental responsibility, although smaller companies might be excused.
The move is in part a response to growing frustration, both among non-governmental organizations and some of the 1500 signatory companies, that ‘free-rider’ businesses are signing up to the compact and doing little else.
However, the director of Oxfam International, Jeremy Hobbs, said the new proposals would be only a ‘very minor’ improvement. ‘If the UN wants to be seen to be protecting its reputation and taking complaints seriously then this is not good enough,’ he said. ‘We would recommend a process that included an independent panel that could make recommendations to the [Compact’s] board. The current integrity measures are much too in-house to be effective.’
Anthony Sampson, director of CSR at the FTSE 100 insurance company Aviva and chair of the Global Compact UK Forum, said there was still plenty of time for the proposals to be amended. ‘The most important element to bear in mind about these proposals is that they are drafts for discussion,’ he told EP. ‘If the proposals do not meet with widespread endorsement, I am sure the opportunity would be taken to think again.’
The Office has been consulting on draft ‘integrity measures’ over the past month and is expected to make recommendations on the matter to UN secretary general Kofi Annan in the next eight weeks.
Under the plans the Office would act on ‘non-frivolous’ complaints by asking the company concerned to respond in writing to the complainant, with a copy sent to the Office, and to keep it informed of any action taken and assist ‘as necessary and appropriate’.
If the company’s response is judged inadequate, the Office would ‘reserve the right to remove it from the list of signatories and to announce that it has done so on the compact website.’ Affected companies would become ‘inactive’, losing the right to declare they are signatories in their CSR literature, to use the logo on training materials or to attend Compact events. If they later took action to deal with the complaint, their status would be restored.
They would also become ‘inactive’ if they fail to report for two years in a row what they are doing to implement the ten principles covering corruption, human rights, discrimination and environmental responsibility, although smaller companies might be excused.
The move is in part a response to growing frustration, both among non-governmental organizations and some of the 1500 signatory companies, that ‘free-rider’ businesses are signing up to the compact and doing little else.
However, the director of Oxfam International, Jeremy Hobbs, said the new proposals would be only a ‘very minor’ improvement. ‘If the UN wants to be seen to be protecting its reputation and taking complaints seriously then this is not good enough,’ he said. ‘We would recommend a process that included an independent panel that could make recommendations to the [Compact’s] board. The current integrity measures are much too in-house to be effective.’
Anthony Sampson, director of CSR at the FTSE 100 insurance company Aviva and chair of the Global Compact UK Forum, said there was still plenty of time for the proposals to be amended. ‘The most important element to bear in mind about these proposals is that they are drafts for discussion,’ he told EP. ‘If the proposals do not meet with widespread endorsement, I am sure the opportunity would be taken to think again.’
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