The proposal to start negotiations on a UN corporate accountability convention has surfaced as a key demand from civil society for the Johannesburg Summit. If the ICC and its member corporations had a genuine, long-term commitment to sustainable development, surely they would not oppose measures to make responsible conduct obligatory for all international business. We believe that such support is a litmus test for corporate lobby groups like the ICC, the WBCSD and their new offspring Business Action for Sustainable Development (BASD). As long as these groups continue to campaign against effective international mechanisms to ensure corporate accountability, they cannot be said to have embraced sustainable development in anything but words.

We hope you will use every opportunity to raise this key issue in the preparations for the Johannesburg Summit. Only if real progress is made in addressing the current corporate accountability vacuum, can Rio+10 can become the success we all hope for.

Yours sincerely,

Philipp Mimkes, Coalition against BAYER-dangers, Germany
Kenny Bruno, CorpWatch, United States
Olivier Hoedeman, Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO)
Ward Morehouse, Council on International and Public Affairs, US
Katie Redford, co-Director, EarthRights International, Thailand/US