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"Most Wanted" Corporate Human Rights Violators of 2005 |
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from Global Exchange
Entered into the database on Monday, December 12th, 2005 @ 10:24:39 MST |
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Take Action for International Human Rights Day! (Click
here to read about our definition of human rights.) INTRODUCTION Corporations carry out some of the most horrific human rights abuses of modern
times, but it is increasingly difficult to hold them to account. Economic globalization
and the rise of transnational corporate power have created a favorable climate
for corporate human rights abusers, which are governed principally by the codes
of supply and demand and show genuine loyalty only to their stockholders. Though it isn't easy, we can check the power of corporations—and citizens
around the world are stepping up to do it. Global Exchange developed this list
of some of the world's worst corporate abusers to illustrate that on issues
as diverse as assassination, torture, kidnapping, environmental degradation,
abusing public funds, violently repressing political rights, releasing toxins
into pristine environments, destroying homes, discrimination, and causing widespread
health problems, familiar companies like Dow Chemical, Coca Cola, Caterpillar,
Lockheed, Philip Morris, and Wal-Mart play a big role. Now we need you to take
action! Several of the companies below are being sued under the Alien Tort Claims Act,
a law that allows citizens of any nationality to sue in US federal courts for
violations of international rights or treaties. When corporations act like criminals,
we have the right and the power to stop them, holding leaders and multinational
corporations alike to the accords they have signed. Around the world—in
Venezuela, Argentina, India, and right here in the United States—citizens
are stepping up to create democracy and hold corporations accountable to international
law. This list of "MOST WANTED" corporate criminals gives you information
about the abusive behavior of this year's top fourteen worst corporations, tells
you who is responsible, and how to connect with and support people who are doing
something about it. The more you know, the less these corporations can continue
their abuses out of public eyesight: so share this information with your friends,
get on the phone with the CEOs themselves, and exercise your rights as a citizen
and consumer today. CATERPILLAR CEO: James Owens Human Rights Abuses: contracting with known violators of
human rights, enabling house demolition, supplying equipment that kills Palestinian
civilians and American peace activists For years, the Caterpillar Company has provided Israel with the bulldozers
used to destroy Palestinian homes. Despite worldwide condemnation, Caterpillar
has refused to end their corporate participation house demolition by cutting
off sales of specially modified D9 and D10 bulldozers to the Israeli military.
Israel seeks to portray the destruction of homes as necessary to its self-defense,
but nothing could be further from the truth. As the Israeli Committee Against
Home Demolitions has rigorously documented, house destruction is part of Israel's
intention to turn the annexation of East Jerusalem and other occupied areas
into a concrete fact (http://www.icahd.org/eng/).
In a letter to Caterpillar CEO James Owens The Office of the UN High Commissioner
on Human Rights said: "allowing the delivery of your. . . bulldozers to
the Israeli army. . . in the certain knowledge that they are being used for
such action, might involve complicity or acceptance on the part of your company
to actual and potential violations of human rights..." Peace activist Rachel Corrie was killed by a Caterpillar, D-9, military bulldozer
in 2003. She was run over while attempting to block the destruction a family's
home in Gaza. Her family filed suit against Caterpillar in March 2005 charging
that Caterpillar knowingly sold machines used to violate human rights. Since
Rachel's death at least three more Palestinians have been killed in their homes
by Israeli bulldozer demolitions. Who's working on it: --------------------------------------- CHEVRON Chairman and CEO: David O'Reilly Human Rights Abuses: environmental destruction, health violations,
and violent killings The petrochemical company Chevron is guilty of some of the worst environmental
and human rights abuses in the world. From 1964 to 1992, Texaco (which transferred
operations to Chevron after being bought out in 2001) unleashed a toxic "Rainforest
Chernobyl" in Ecuador by leaving more than 600 unlined oil pits in pristine
northern Amazon rainforest and dumping 18 billion gallons of toxic production
water into rivers used for bathing water. The toxic crude oil and formation
water seeped into the subsoil, contaminating surrounding freshwater and farmland.
As a result, local communities have suffered severe health effects, including
cancer, skin lesions, birth defects, and spontaneous abortions. Indigenous communities
have been dispossessed of their lands, and millions of hectares of rainforest
have been destroyed to make way for the company's pipelines and oil wells. Chevron is also responsible for the violent repression of nonviolent opposition
to oil extraction. In Nigeria, Chevron has collaborated with the Nigerian police
and military who have opened fire on peaceful protestors who oppose oil extraction
in the Niger Delta. In 1998, two indigenous Ilaje activists were killed by Nigerian
military officers flown in by the company while protesting at an oil platform
in Ondo state. In 1999, two people from Opia village were killed by military
personnel paid by Chevron, after soliciting a meeting to complain about the
company's harmful effects on local fishing. And in 2005, Nigerian soldiers fired
upon protestors at Escravos oil terminal, leaving one protestor dead. Additionally Chevron is responsible for widespread health problems in Richmond,
California, where one of Chevron's largest refineries is located. Processing
350,000 barrels of oil a day, the Richmond refinery produces oil flares and
toxic waste in the Richmond area. As a result, local residents suffer from high
rates of lupus, skin rashes, rheumatic fever, liver problems, kidney problems,
tumors, cancer, asthma, and eye problems. In December 2004, the Unocal Corporation, which recently became a subsidiary
of Chevron, settled a lawsuit filed by 15 Burmese villagers, in which the villagers
alleged Unocal's complicity in a range of human rights violations in Burma,
including rape, summary execution, torture, forced labor and forced migration.
Despite the settlement, human rights abuses continue along the oil pipeline
in Burma, which is still "secured" by the Burmese military. Chevron
is responsible for the risks associated with this pipeline. Who's working on it: ------------------------------------- COCA-COLA CEO: E. Neville Isdell Human Rights Abuses: violent killings, kidnap and torture,
water privatization, health violations, and discriminatory practices Coca-Cola Company is perhaps the most widely recognized corporate symbol on
the planet. The company also leads in the abuse of workers' rights, assassinations,
water privatization, and worker discrimination. Between 1989 and 2002, eight
union leaders from Coca-Cola bottling plants in Colombia were killed after protesting
the company's labor practices. Hundreds of other Coca-Cola workers who have
joined or considered joining the Colombian union SINALTRAINAL have been kidnapped,
tortured, and detained by paramilitaries who intimidate workers to prevent them
from unionizing. In Turkey, 14 Coca-Cola truck drivers and their families were
beaten severely by Turkish police hired by the company, while protesting a layoff
of 1,000 workers from a local bottling plant in 2005. In India, Coca-Cola destroys local agriculture by privatizing the country's
water resources. In Plachimada, Kerala, Coca-Cola extracted 1.5 million liters
of deep well water, which they bottled and sold under the names Dasani and BonAqua.
The groundwater was severely depleted, affecting thousands of communities with
water shortages and destroying agricultural activity. As a result, the remaining
water became contaminated with high chloride and bacteria levels, leading to
scabs, eye problems, and stomach aches in the local population. Water shortages
have occurred in Varanasi, Thane, and Tamil Nadu as well. The company is also
guilty of reselling its plants' industrial waste to farmers as fertilizers,
despite its containing hazardous lead and cadmium. Coca-Cola is one of the most discriminatory employers in the world. In the
year 2000, 2,000 African-American employees in the U.S. sued the company for
race-based disparities in pay and promotions. In México, Coca-Cola FEMSA,
the largest Coca-Cola bottler in Latin America, fired a senior bottling manager
for being gay. Finally, by regularly denying health insurance to employees and
their families, Coca Cola has failed to help stop the spread of AIDS in Africa.
The company is one of the continent's largest private employers, yet only partially
covers expensive medicines, while not covering generic medicines at all. Who's working on it: ----------------------------------------- DOW CHEMICAL CEO: Andrew N. Liveris Human rights abuses: creation of chemical weapons, marketing
poisonous chemicals, illegal dumping of toxins into populated areas, environmental
destruction, health problems, death Dow Chemical has been destroying lives and poisoning the planet for decades.
The company is best known for the ravages and health disaster for millions of
Vietnamese and U.S. Veterans caused by its lethal Vietnam War defoliant, Agent
Orange. Dow's "invent first, ask questions later" standard of business
led the multinational company to develop and perfect Napalm, a brutal chemical
weapon that burned many innocents to death in Vietnam and other wars. In 1988,
Dow provided pesticides to Saddam Hussein despite warnings that they could be
used to produce chemical weapons. In 2001, Dow inherited the toxic legacy of the worst peacetime chemical disaster
in history when it acquired Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) and its outstanding
liabilities in Bhopal, India. As the Students for Bhopal website recounts, "On
December 3rd, 1984, thousands of people in Bhopal, India were gassed to death
after a catastrophic chemical leak at a UCC pesticide plant. More than 150,000
people were left severely disabled-of whom 22,000 have since died of their injuries-in
a disaster now widely acknowledged as the world's worst ever." Dow refuses to address its liabilities in Bhopal or even admit its existence,
continuing in Union Carbide's tradition of profiting from extreme corporate
irresponsibility. In India, Dow's subsidiary faces manslaughter charges and
is considered a fugitive from justice for a pending criminal case related to
the 1984 xhemical explosion. Dow and UCC's lack of accountability in the disaster
continue to affect the lives in Bhopal to this day. World wide, Dow is involved in human rights abuses: environmental destruction,
water and ground contamination, health violations, chemical poisoning, and chemical
warfare. Dow Chemical's impact is felt globally from their Midland, Michigan
headquarters to Plymouth New Zealand. In Midland, Dow has been producing chlorinated
chemicals and burning and burying its waste including chemicals that make up
Agent Orange. In Plymouth, New Zealand, 500,000 gallons of Agent Orange were
produced and thousands of tons of dioxin-laced waste was dumped in agricultural
fields. Dow's toxic legacies of human rights abuses traverse to agricultural
fields in Central America where Dow exported EPA-banned pesticide DBCP for use
on banana and pineapple crops. As a result, thousands of banana workers were
exposed to DBCP and became sterile. In retail markets across the world Dow's
dangerous chemicals are present as common household solvents, plastics, paints
and pharmaceuticals. Who's working on it: ----------------------------------------- DYNCORP/CSC CEO: Van Honeycutt Human rights abuses: causing health problems, environmental
devastation and death; endangering lives; physically abusing individuals; sex
trafficking Private security contractors have become the fastest-growing sector of the
global economy during the last decade—a $100-billion-a-year, nearly unregulated
industry. DynCorp, one of the providers of these mercenary services, demonstrates
the industry's power and potential to abuse human rights. While guarding Afghani
statesmen and African oil fields, training Iraqi police forces, eradicating
Colombian coca plants, and protecting business interests in hurricane-devastated
New Orleans, these hired guns bolster the security of governments and organizations
at the expense of many people's human rights. DynCorp's fumigation of coca crops along the Colombian-Ecuadorian border led
Ecuadorian peasants to sue DynCorp in 2001. Plaintiffs argued that DynCorp knew—or
should have known—that the herbicides were highly toxic, and should therefore
be held accountable for health problems and death among local people and widespread
environmental damage to their subsistence agriculture. A Colombian newsweekly
called DynCorp—which also sprays herbicides in Peru and Bolivia—"lawless
Rambos." DynCorp's questionable actions in Haiti include its training of the national
police force after the first coup against President Aristide, paving the way
for (Tonton Macaoutes) to return to power. In 2001, a mechanic with DynCorp blew the whistle on DynCorp employees in Bosnia
for rape and trading girls as young as 12 into sex slavery. According to a lawsuit
filed by the mechanic, "employees and supervisors were engaging in perverse,
illegal and inhumane behavior [and] were purchasing illegal weapons, women,
[and] forged passports." The mechanic observed DynCorp employees buying
and selling women and bragging about the ages and talents of their female slaves.
DynCorp fired the whistleblower, who later claimed that "DynCorp is just
as immoral and elite as possible, and any rule they can break they do."
The company transferred the employees accused of sex trading out of the country,
eventually firing some. None were prosecuted. Who's working on it: -------------------------------------------- FORD MOTOR COMPANY CEO: William Clay Ford, Jr. Human rights violations: environmental degradation, climate
change, fueling wars for oil The US automobile industry is fueling America's addiction to oil. Automobiles
are the single largest consumer of oil in the US, a country that constitutes
less than five percent of the world's population but consumes 25 percent of
its oil. The US addiction to oil is linked with a host of human rights and environmental
problems, including human rights abuses in countries such as Nigeria, Ecuador,
Sudan, South Africa and Indonesia. The US oil addiction has prompted the US
government to cozy up to human rights violating governments such as that of
Saudi Arabia. It has pushed indigenous people off their land and destroyed hundreds
of thousands of acres of rainforests, which are home to half the planet and
animal species on the planet. It has fueled wars for oil, such as the war in
Iraq, which has so far caused the deaths of more than 2,100 US troops and an
estimated 27,000 to 100,000 Iraqis. It has polluted cities, endangering the
health of millions of people who live in high-ozone communities and leading
to hundreds of thousands of cases of childhood asthma. And, by being a major
contributor to global warming, has increased the likelihood of extreme weather
events like Hurricane Katrina, which killed at least 1,289 people. Among automakers, Ford Motor Company is the worst. Every year since 1999, the
US Environmental Protection Agency has ranked Ford cars, trucks and SUVs as
having the worst overall fuel economy of any American automaker. Ford's current
car and truck fleet has a lower average fuel efficiency than the original Ford
Model-T. Ford is also in last place when it comes to vehicle greenhouse gas emissions.
According to a recent report by the Union of Concerned Scientists, Ford has
"the absolute worst heat-trapping gas emissions performance of all the
Big Six automakers." In fact, if Ford were a country, it would be the 10th
largest global warming polluter worldwide, behind Italy. Amazingly, despite the company's recent greenwashing PR campaign, its record
has actually worsened. According to Ford's own sustainability report, between
2003 and 2004, the company's US fleet-wide fuel economy decreased and its CO2
emissions went up. Ford is also lobbying to prevent the U.S. and state governments
from improving the situation: the company has lobbied against lawmakers' efforts
to increase fuel economy standards at the national level and is also involved
in a lawsuit against California's fuel economy standards. Who's working on it: ---------------------------------------- KBR (KELLOGG, BROWN, AND ROOT): A SUBSIDIARY OF HALLIBURTON CORPORATION
President and CEO: CEO Andrew Lane Human rights violations: Overcharging and providing unnecessary
services on taxpayer's dollar, bribery, exploiting third country nationals KBR is a private company that provides military support services. Notorious
for its questionable bookkeeping, dishonest billing practices, and no-bid contracts,
KBR has violated human rights on the U.S. dollar. KBR provides key logistical support for war, occupation and unlawful detention.
The company provides the critical support services US troops need to be able
to continue their occupation of Iraq. KBR also constructed the detention facility
in Guantanamo Bay, where hundreds of detainees have languished for more than
three years, many of whom have suffered abuse and torture. KBR's dubious accounting in Iraq came to light in December 2003 when Pentagon
auditors questioned possible overcharges for imported gasoline. Former employees
have testified about KBR's billing for $100 laundry bags and $45 cases of soda,
failing to provide simple mechanical parts such as oil filters, feeding soldiers
outdated rations, and charging for meals never served. In June 2005, a previously
secret Pentagon audit criticized $1.4 billion in "questioned" and
"unsupported" expenditures. However, given KBR's history, this is no surprise. In 2002 the company paid
$2 million to settle a Justice Department lawsuit that accused KBR of inflating
contract prices at Fort Ord, California. In 2000, the GAO scrutinized KBR for
overcharging and providing unnecessary services in the Balkans. Bribes to local
officials (such as in Nigeria) or subcontractors also appear to be part of KBR's
modus operandi. Many third-country national (TCN) laborers have been hired by KBR to "rebuild"
Iraq. Generally hailing from impoverished Asian countries, they have unexpectedly
become part of the largest civilian workforce ever hired in support of a U.S.
war. An intricate network of subcontractors who recruit and employ most TCNs lowers
the prime contractors' costs and hinders any oversight by contract auditors.
The laborers often take out usurious loans to pay a finder's fee for the overseas
jobs. Once abroad, the workers find themselves with few protections and uncertain
legal status. TCNs often sleep in crowded trailers and wait outside in scorching
heat to eat "slop." Many lack adequate medical care and put in hard
labor seven days a week, 10 hours or more a day. Few receive proper workplace
safety equipment or adequate protection from incoming mortars and rockets. KBR is now accused of perpetuating the same system in areas destroyed or damaged
by Hurricane Katrina. Reports have surfaced about KBR's subcontractors exploiting
TCN's (this time, Latinos), many of whom are unpaid, unfed, living in squalid
conditions and suffering from untreated ailments. Who's working on it: ---------------------------------------------- LOCKHEED MARTIN CEO: Robert Stevens Human Rights Abuses: War profiteering, warmongering Lockheed Martin is the world's largest military contractor. In 2003, the year
of the Iraq invasion, the company held $21.9 billion in Pentagon contracts.
Providing satellites, planes, missiles, and other lethal high tech items to
the Pentagon keeps the profits rolling in. Since 2000, the year Bush was elected,
the company's stock value has tripled. A large company like Lockheed Martin has the ability to shape it's the business
environment, and marketing war is very beneficial to the bottom line. As the
Center for Corporate Policy (www.corporatepolicy.org) notes, it is no coincidence
that Lockheed VP Bruce Jackson—who helped draft the Republican foreign
policy platform in 2000—is a key player at the Project for a New American
Century, the intellectual incubator of the Iraq war. Lockheed Martin is not the only defense contractor that goes behind the scenes
to influence public policy, but it is one of the worst. Stephen J. Hadley, who
now has Condoleeza Rice's old job as Assistant to the President for National
Security Affairs, was formerly a partner in a big DC law firm representing Lockheed
Martin. He is only one of the beneficiaries of the so-called revolving door
between the military industries and the "civilian" national security
apparatus. These war profiteers—the makers of the Trident missile; aircraft
like the F-16 Fighting Falcon and the F/A-22 and the C-130 Hercules, as well
as high tech space based military components like the DSCS-3 satellite—have
a profound and illegitimate influence our country's international policy decisions.
Who's working on it: ---------------------------------------- MONSANTO CEO: Hugh Grant Human Rights Abuses: Displacement, health violations, and
child labor Monsanto is, by far, the largest producer of genetically engineered seeds in
the world, dominating 70% to 100% of the market for crops such as soy, cotton,
wheat, and corn. The company is also one of the most egregious abusers of the
human rights of food sovereignty, access to land, and health. Monsanto promotes mono-culture—the practice of covering large swaths
of land with a single crop. This practice pushes out subsistence farms and destroys
arable land by drastically decreasing soil and water quality for years, draining
soil of key nutrients. The company also undercuts food prices by flooding countries
like Mexico, India, and Brazil with cheap, genetically modified foods, resulting
in the displacement of millions of farm workers, who are forced to migrate to
cities or work as landless peasants or share croppers. Monsanto is the world's leading producer of the herbicide glyphosate, marketed
as "Roundup." Roundup is sold to small farmers as a pesticide, yet
harms crops in the long run as the toxins accumulate in the soil. Plants eventually
become infertile, forcing farmers to purchase genetically modified Roundup Ready
Seed, a seed that resists the herbicide. This creates a cycle of dependency
on Monsanto for both the weed killer and the only seed that can resist it. Both
products are patented, and sold at inflated prices. Roundup Ultra, a version of the pesticide that is unavailable on the commercial
market, is regularly employed in fumigation of areas of illicit crop production.
However, as it destroys fields of drug plants, it also destroys subsistence
crops like banana, palm heart, and coffee. Exposure to the pesticide is documented
to cause cancers, skin disorders, spontaneous abortions, premature births, and
damage to the gastrointestinal and nervous systems. According to the India Committee of the Netherlands and the International Labor
Rights Fund, Monsanto also employs child labor. In India, an estimated 12,375
children work in cottonseed production for farmers paid by Indian and multinational
seed companies, including Monsanto. A number of children have died or became
seriously ill due to exposure to pesticides. Monsanto's yearly profits are $5.4 billion. Who's working on it: ------------------------------------------- NESTLÉ USA CEO: Joe Weller Human Rights Violations: Abusive child labor, repression of
worker rights, aggressive marketing of harmful products, violation of national
health and environmental laws There's a secret in the chocolate industry, and once people find out about
it, their chocolate doesn't taste as sweet any more: Much of the chocolate eaten
all over the world is made of cocoa beans that have been harvested by illegal
child labor, including child slave labor. The problem of illegal and forced child labor is rampant in the chocolate industry,
because more than forty percent of the world's cocoa supply comes from the Ivory
Coast, a country that the US State Department estimates had approximately 109,000
child laborers working in hazardous conditions on cocoa farms in what's been
described as the worst form of child labor. In 2001, Save the Children Canada
reported that 15,000 children between 9 and 12 years old, many from impoverished
Mali, had been tricked or sold into slavery on West African cocoa farms, many
for just $30 each. Just this summer, the International Labor Rights Fund and
a Birmingham law firm filed a class-action lawsuit against Nestlé and
several of its suppliers on behalf of former child slaves. Nestlé is the target of this lawsuit and is singled out by corporate
campaigners, because it is the third largest buyer of cocoa from the Ivory Coast,
has processing, storage and export facilities there, and is well aware of the
tragically unjust labor practices taking place on the farms with which it continues
to do business. Nestlé and other chocolate manufacturers agreed to end
the use of abusive and forced child labor on cocoa farms by July 1, 2005, but
they failed to do so. Nestlé is also notorious for its aggressive marketing of infant formula
in poor countries the 1980s, which may have led to the deaths of countless children
who did not receive the nutrients that would have been present in breast milk.
Because of this practice, Nestlé is still one of the most boycotted corporations
in the world, and its infant formula is still controversial. In Italy in 2005,
police seized more than two million liters of Nestlé infant formula that
was contaminated with the chemical isopropylthioxanthone (ITX), a component
in the packaging's ink. It turned out the company knew about the contamination
for months, but did not recall the formula. Additionally, violations of labor rights are reported from Nestlé factories
in numerous countries. In Colombia, Nestlé replaced the entire factory
staff with lower-wage workers and did not renew the collective employment contract.
In Cabuyao Laguna, Philippines, a 3-year strike against Nestlé was partially
precipitated by Nestlé's refusal to include the retirement benefits of
the workers in the collective bargaining agreement, despite the Supreme Court's
ruling in favor of the workers. The company has brutally attempted to break
the strike; this year, two unionists, including prominent labor leader Diosdado
Fortuna, have been murdered. Who's working on it: ----------------------------------------- PHILIP MORRIS USA and PHILIP MORRIS INTERNATIONAL (a.k.a. the Altria
Group Inc.) Chairman and CEO: Louis C. Camilleri Human Rights Abuse: aggressively marketing lethal products
According to the World Health Organization, tobacco is the second major cause
of preventable death in the world. Nearly five million lives per year are claimed
by the tobacco industry, whose products results in premature death for half
the people who use them. Among tobacco companies, Philip Morris is notorious.
Now called Altria, it is the world's largest and most profitable cigarette corporation
and maker of Marlboro, Virginia Slims, Parliament, Basic and many other brands
of cigarettes. Philip Morris is also a leader in pushing smoking with young
people around the world. Philip Morris has consistently misled consumers about the dangers of its products.
Documents uncovered in a lawsuit filed against the tobacco industry by the state
of Minnesota showed that Philip Morris and other leading tobacco corporations
knew very well of the dangers of tobacco products and the addictiveness of nicotine,
yet they continued to deny these realities in public until the internal company
documents were brought to light. To this day, Philip Morris deceives consumers
about the harm of its products by offering light, mild and low-tar cigarettes
that give consumers the illusion that these brands are "healthier"
than traditional cigarettes. Philip Morris has actively targeted the world's youth by researching smoking
patterns and attitudes and targeting youth as potential customers. Marlboro
cigarettes are the top brand for youth in the United States. Although the company
says it doesn't want kids to smoke, it spends millions of dollars every day
marketing and promoting cigarettes to youth. Overseas, it has even hired underage
Marlboro girls to distribute free cigarettes to other children and sponsored
concerts where cigarettes were handed out to minors. As anti-tobacco campaigns and government regulations are slowing tobacco use
in Western countries, Philip Morris has aggressively moved into developing country
markets, where smoking and smoking-related deaths are on the rise. According
to a study by the Harvard School of Public Health, tobacco's killing fields
are shifting to the developing world and Eastern Europe, where most of the world's
smokers now live. Preliminary numbers released by the World Health Organization
predict global deaths due to smoking-related illnesses will nearly double by
2020, with more than three-quarters of those deaths in the developing world.
Meanwhile, Philip Morris' profits continue to grow. In the third quarter of
2005 alone, Altria's net revenue was $25 billion, up from 2004 in large part
due to the high performance of Philip Morris USA and Philip Morris International. Who's working on it: ----------------------------------------- PFIZER CEO: William Steere Human Rights Abuse: The denial of universal access to HIV/AIDS
medicines Pfizer is the largest pharmaceutical company in the world, representing 11%
of the world market, and earning more than $4 billion dollars in profit per
year in the world's most profitable industry. It is also one of the worst abusers
of the human right of universal access to HIV/AIDS medicine. In addition to Viagra, Zoloft, Zithromax, and Norvasc Pfizer produces the AIDS
drug fluconazole under the name Diflucan, and sells it at prices that poor people
with AIDS cannot afford. The company refuses to grant generic licenses of fluconazole
to governments in countries like Brazil, South Africa, or Dominican Republic,
where patients are forced to pay $20 per weekly pill, though the average national
wage is only $120 per month. Instead of helping eradicate the world's worst pandemic in history, Pfizer
chooses to follow World Trade Organization intellectual property rules and refuses
to grant governments licenses to make generic, accessible AIDS drugs available
to their citizens. Pfizer also values shareholder profits over safety standards. In Europe in
2005, it withdrew from scientific studies of a new class of AIDS drugs called
CCR5 inhibitors, choosing instead to rush its own untested CCR5 inhibitor onto
the European market without full information about the drug's side effects..
Who's working on it: -------------------------------------- SUEZ-LYONNAISE DES EAUX (SLDE) CEO: Mr. Gérard Mestrallet Human rights abuse: Water privatization The privatization of water has had a disastrous impact on the human right to
clean water, and the French company Suez is the worst perpetrator of this abuse.
The company's billions of dollars in profit come at the expense of poor people
living in countries where thousands lack access to potable water, and, because
of private water contracts, are also facing skyrocketing water prices. Suez goes by many names around the world—Ondeo, SITA, and others—to
mask its worldwide net of controversial activities. But no sleight of hand can
hide the fact that Suez, which is one of the largest water companies in the
world, has been a leader in turning the human right to water into an unaffordable
luxury. According to Public Citizen, Suez has raised water rates, cut off the
water of people unable to pay, refused to extend services to poverty-stricken
neighborhoods, and then threatened legal action when contracts are terminated.
For example, in Manila, Philippines, after seven years of water privatization
under a Suez company (Maynilad Water) contract, studies showed that water rates
increased in some neighborhoods by 400 to 700 percent. These studies also showed
that the negligence of the company resulted in cholera and gastroenteritis outbreaks
that killed six people and severely sickened 725 in Manila's Tondo district.
In Argentina, Suez mixed companies have refused to make promised investments
in the water infrastructure, which has resulted in serious water pollution problems.
They also charge high consumer rates and cut off water access for citizens unable
to pay, leaving those most in need without access to a life-sustaining natural
resource. In Bolivia, a Suez company (Aguas de Illimani) left 200,000 people without
access to water and caused a revolt when it tried to charge between $335 and
$445 to connect a private home to the water supply. Countless people were unable
to afford this charge in a country whose yearly per capita GDP is $915. Unfortunately, the IMF and World Bank are playing a key role in pushing water
privatization all over the world. Many countries have been required to open
up their water supply to private companies as a condition for receiving IMF
loans, and the World Bank has approved millions of dollars in loans for the
privatization of water systems. Who's working on it: ------------------------------------------- WAL-MART CEO: Lee Scott Human Rights Abuses: worker rights violations, labor discrimination,
union busting Wal-Mart is the biggest corporation in the world. It owns 5,100 stores worldwide
and employs 1.3 million workers in the United States and 400,000 abroad, as
well as a millions more in the factories of its suppliers. Because of the company's
enormity, its business model has a huge influence on workers and businesses
around the world; so far Wal-Mart has used that influence to ruthlessly drive
down costs as a means of making profit, violating a vast array of human rights
and labor rights along the way. Many people have heard of the way that Wal-Mart steamrolls its way into every
possible town, destroying local supermarkets and countless small businesses.
We have also heard about Wal-Mart's long track record of worker abuse, from
forced overtime to sex discrimination to illegal child labor to relentless union
busting. Wal-Mart also notoriously fails to provide health insurance to over
half of its employees, who are then left to rely on themselves or taxpayers,
who provide for a portion of their healthcare needs through government Medicaid.
Less well known is the fact that Wal-Mart maintains its low price level by
allowing substandard labor conditions at the overseas factories producing most
of its goods. The company continually demands lower prices from its suppliers,
who, in turn, make more outrageous and abusive demands on their workers in order
to meet Wal-Mart's requirements. In September 2005, the International Labor
Rights Fund filed a lawsuit on behalf of Wal-Mart supplier sweatshop workers
in China, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Nicaragua and Swaziland. The workers were denied
minimum wages, forced to work overtime without compensation, and were denied
legally mandated health care. Other worker rights violations that have been
found in foreign factories that produce goods for Wal-Mart include locked bathrooms,
starvation wages, pregnancy tests, denial of access to health care, and workers
being fired and blacklisted if they try to defend their rights. Additionally, nearly 70% of Wal-Mart's goods are made in factories in China,
a country where garment workers are often kept under 24-hour-a-day surveillance
and can be fired for even discussing factory conditions. The Chinese government
does not allow independent human rights groups to exist, and all attempts to
form independent unions have been crushed. Wal-Mart refuses to reveal its Chinese
contractors and will not allow independent, unannounced inspections of its contractors'
facilities. Who's working on it: |
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