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Colombia launches Annan's Global Compact for better corporate practices

Colombia launches Annan's Global Compact for better corporate practices

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The private sector's role in conflict prevention and peace-building topped the agenda today at a meeting in Colombia, which is launching the Global Compact, an initiative of United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan to encourage better corporate practices in human rights, labour and the environment worldwide.

The private sector's role in conflict prevention and peace-building topped the agenda today at a meeting in Colombia, which is launching the Global Compact, an initiative of United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan to encourage better corporate practices in human rights, labour and the environment worldwide.

Setting the tone for the two-day event in a message to participants, Mr. Annan noted that private companies operate in many war zones or conflict-prone countries around the world. He also pointed out that companies manufacture and sell weapons used in conflict, and others are involved in the extraction and sale of lucrative natural resources.

"In many situations, the chaos of conflict has allowed resources to be exploited illegally or with little regard for equity or the environment. When local populations are excluded from discussions on access and control of natural resources - and see little benefit for communities - this can also cause conflict," the Secretary-General said in the message, which was delivered by John Renninger, a senior official in the UN Department of Political Affairs.

The private sector has an "enormous stake, responsibility and potential influence in the search for peaceful solutions," he said.

"The bottom line can no longer, and should no longer, be separated from some of the key goals of the United Nations and the responsible global community: peace, development and equity," he stressed. "All of these are compelling reasons why business should play an active part in tackling these issues, without waiting to be asked."

The meeting, being held in Bogotá, has drawn some 150 representatives of the private sector, civil society and governments to the third in a series of regional dialogues organized to help the private sector in contributing to conflict alleviation.

The Secretary-General launched the Global Compact in 1999 at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, to encourage companies to adhere to nine core principles in human rights, labour and the environment. Today, more than 1,200 companies from over 70 countries participate in the Compact.