wednesday 4th september
johannesburg
us holds out to the bitter end
Just an hour after the world’s governments
agreed their plan to save the world at the
Earth Summit in Johannesburg, the US insisted
it was redefining the agreement. In the final
plenary session, the US government spokesman
said the US felt that “full development”
really meant “existing”. Friends of the Earth
called on the world’s leaders to club
together and buy Colin Powell a
dictionary.
Just minutes after the Summit formally
adopted its plan, the US insisted on its
highly individual interpretation of the text
on big business being officially recorded.
This followed a failed US attempt yesterday
to get the same objection noted as a footnote
- which would have appeared to have come from
all governments. As reported earlier by
Friends of the Earth International, that
attempt failed following other governments’
expressions of outrage.
Specifically the US said it felt the
paragraph of the Johannesburg Programme of
Action regarding corporate responsibility and
accountability referred to “existing”
intergovernmental agreements andnbsp;
international initiatives. This is despite
the fact that the word “existing” was
explicitly removed during the
negotiations.
Matt Phillips of Friends of the Earth
said:
“This crude attempt by the US to sneak away
from better rules for holding US corporations
accountable deserves contempt. The rest of
the world must go ahead and develop binding
rules to secure corporate accountability and
put pressure on the US to abide by its
negotiated agreement.”
[1] The paragraph actually reads:
“Actively promote corporate responsibility
and accountability, based on Rio Principles,
including through the full development and
effective implementation of intergovernmental
agreements and measures, international
initiatives and public-private partnerships,
appropriate national regulations, and
continuous improvement in corporate practices
in all countries.”
Contact:
Matt Phillips 020 7566 1660 (m) 07817
314706
Craig Bennet +27 (0) 72 406 4748
Press office 020 7566 1649
|
