What's Being Done?
Global Standards | Social Reform

Global Standard of Human Rights

A recent article in The Wall Street Journal detailed how several energy and mining companies have combined efforts with human-rights organizations to create "a set of voluntary guidelines for respecting human rights while protecting operations overseas." These companies - Royal Dutch/Shell Group, BP Amoco, Texaco, Conoco, Chevron, Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold, and Rio Tinto – have realized the global imperative of preventing abuses that have often been linked to energy and mining operations abroad.

To learn more about civil societies and the amazing efforts of these organizations, here are the names of those that are involved with this global standards proposal and other amazing efforts like it. Please explore their web sites and learn about what they do for you, what you can do for them, and what you can do for the world together.

Human Rights Watch

Amnesty International

International Alert

Lawyers Committee for Human Rights

Fund for Peace

Council on Economic Priorities

Business for Social Responsibility

Prince of Wales Business Leaders Forum

International Federation of Chemical, Energy Mine and General Workers’ Unions

World Economic Forum Addresses "Antiglobalization" Sentiment

The World Social Forum is an organization that meets annually in Brazil, bringing together antiglobalization activists to condemn economic policies and "focus on the creation and exchange of social and economic projects that promote human rights, social justice and sustainable development." The group has recently aimed its attacks on the World Economic Forum, a group that hosts conferences around the world, in hopes of influencing the many business and government leaders that attend. In late January when world leaders met in Davos, Switzerland for the World Economic Forum, the World Social Forum countered with its own conference in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Visit the web site of the World Social Forum to learn about their initiatives, concerns, and plans to promote civil responsibility.

At the World Economic Forum in Davos, the influence of the protesters was evident in discussions about what must be done in business and government. "Globalization is a fact. Our goal is make it more human," explained Laurent Fabius, France’s left-wing finance minister. As said in an article from the Dow Jones Newswires on January 1, 2001 about the Davos Forum, "Business is no longer just about profits. It’s about social responsibility and tackling poverty as well. And governments, particularly those in the industrialized world, must listen to what their people are saying or else the noble cause of globalization will be lost."

Visit the web site of the World Economic Forum to learn about their initiatives geared towards "improving the state of the world."

To learn more about environmental concerns and what the World Economic Forum is doing to create a balance between these and economic concerns, check out the VTM web page devoted to the every important issue of the Environment.