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UNITED
NATIONS, March 19 -- The UN Global Compact, a corporate
initiative of Kofi Annan, on Monday held its first press
conference at UN Headquarters since Ban Ki-moon took over. The
Hayleys Group, a Sri Lankan conglomerate involved among other
things in textiles, teas and "activated carbon" used in
cigarette filters, received a plaque for a program in which it
will insert a Global Compact flier in every tea container, and
devote 1.5 cents per sale to housing for the workers on what it
calls its plantations.
The Global Compact's self-description is that it "catalyzes
actions in support of UN goals." The UN's World Health
Organization helped organize in 2003 the Framework Convention on
Tobacco Control, since ratified by nearly all UN member states.
At Monday's press conference, Inner City Press asked Hayley's
Group chairman N.G. Wickremeratne about the cigarette filters as
well as how the Group deals with the 20-year conflict in the
country. Video here, from Minute 27:54.
Of cigarette filters, Mr. Wickremeratne said that "if someone
wants to buy our product, unless we know for certain.... we
would not not sell." He added that if asked, "We will produce a
better quality filter" for cigarettes.
But how does this relate to the Global Compact, and to the UN's
Framework Convention on Tobacco Control? Inner City Press asked
the two questions, conflict and tobacco, to Global Compact head,
Goerg Kell. On the first, Mr. Kell spoke of how business can
foster islands of stability. He did not, in this first crack at
it, address the tobacco issue. When Inner City Press
followed-up, Mr. Kell said, "I don't believe it is a very
serious issue," and called it a third-level issue. We are here
to talk about tea, he said, noting that there is "no explicit
prohibition" against tobacco and that it is a "fully legal
product." He concluded, "We do not see this as an ethical
issue." Many in the responsible investment community see it
differently. And the Global Compact's own website touts its
co-hosting of dialogues to "promote sustainable lifestyles."
Smoking, it seems clear, not only does not represent a
sustainable lifestyle, it does not sustain life, much less
style.
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Global
Compact beams tea at UN HQ on Monday |
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Sri Lanka is a
signatory to the UN's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
On Monday, Sri Lanka's Ambassador to the United States, Bernard
Goonetilleke, responded to Inner City Press' question about
business in conflict areas, but not on the question of
cigarettes and filters. Ambassador Goonetilleke emphasized that
cease fires are arranged, even in areas controlled by the Tamil
Tigers, to arrange for the vaccination of children, and that the
central government pays for schooling in those areas. A similar
point, regarding the country's rules against child labor, was
made by Ravi Fernando, who along with being the Global Compact's
"focal point" in Sri Lanka also works for garment manufacturer
MAS Holdings, one of the products of which is described as "the
ethical bra." Beyond Sri Lanka, MAS has factories in India,
Maldives and Vietnam.
Relatedly, Mr. Kell indicated that his office and experts will
be providing information from its "work stream" on the relation
between the Compact and conflict prevention, or as Inner City
Press put it, peace and security. The connections and
disconnections between the evolving principles and methods of
the Global Compact and the wider "community" of socially
responsible investment is a topic deserving of more coverage.
What, for example, is the Global Compact's view of predatory
lending? Would the Global Compact say that climate change and
standardless greenhouse gas emissions, like tobacco and the
production of cigarette paraphernalia, is not "an ethical
issue," not even " a very serious issue?" We will continue to
cover the Compact. |
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