Humanitarian and environmental groups accused the United States of pressuring other countries at a United Nations forum to dilute language in a draft document on corporate responsibility in the Third World.
The groups want multinational corporations to be held accountable for promoting social development when they set up in poor countries. A draft declaration at the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development mentions that but doesn't make it mandatory.
Oxfam International, Greenpeace International, Third World Network and Friends of the Earth International want the change. Oxfam spokesman Sander van Bennekom said Wednesday that the United States convinced other countries to remove stronger language.
That sends "a signal to companies that they can behave in a way so they are not answerable to the international community," he said.
"It could lead to irresponsible behavior by companies and no way to regulate them," van Bennekom said.
Terry Miller, U.S. deputy assistant secretary for international organizations, said the United States is opposed to an international corporate responsibility code because corporations must obey laws in the countries where they operate and extend benefits with their presence.
But he denied the new language had been watered down and said it was the result of careful negotiations by UNCTAD member countries.
"Corporations already provide incredible social and economic benefits: Jobs, training, tax revenues, not to mention the goods and services they provide," Miller said. "To expect corporations to do a lot more than that can be dangerous because it can cause them to simply withdraw their capital."
Many delegates at the weeklong conference say developing countries must make sure they benefit from free trade instead of simply opening Third World markets to multinational corporations.
Addressing the 180-nation conference, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said poor countries must be assured better market access to developed economies and financing from their rich counterparts for education and infrastructure improvements.
"We cannot sanction a trading system that produces advantages for some and adversities for others," Museveni said.
Negotiators for the 147-nation World Trade Organization are trying to reach a framework by July for a trade deal that would slash subsidies, tariffs and other barriers for rich and poor countries alike.
UNCTAD, which meets every four years, does not have the power of the WTO to negotiate and enforce treaties. But the two groups cover many of the same issues.
The conference in Sao Paulo, Brazil's hub of industry and finance, has brought together leaders of mainly Latin American countries, plus trade ministers and development officials from around the world. It ends Friday.
UNCTAD held its last forum in Bangkok, Thailand, in 2000, just months after the WTO's attempt to launch a new round of trade negotiations in Seattle collapsed amid violent anti-globalization street protests.
Although cancellation of poor countries' foreign debt is a recurring theme among African nations, Museveni said debts shouldn't be forgiven unless accompanied by detailed plans on how to build trade and industry and create jobs.
"Debt cancellation is the newest song on the hit parade," he said. "But what do you do when you cancel the poor man's debt without giving him the means to earn a living? He will simply contract new debt."Associated Press Online:
