Utting, Peter2019-09-252019-09-252011-06-282002http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12424/179626"Anyone from the United Nations who attended the 2002 World Social Forum (WSF) in Porto Alegre, Brazil, would have been struck by the fact that whilst many activists are critical of the UN, they still believe in the organization. In sharp contrast to the demands for a radical downsizing or abolition of organizations such as the WTO, World Bank and IMF, many civil society organizations are calling for a reformed but strengthened UN. Criticism, however, is building, notably on the question of UN relations with transnational corporations (TNCs). Recent partnerships between UN organizations and TNCs symbolize the increasingly close nature of this relationship. The most high profile of these is the Global Compact, which by the end of 2001 had enlisted the support of approximately 400 companies in 30 countries. These companies have agreed to adhere to nine principles related to human rights, labour standards and environmental protection. At the WSF the Global Compact came in for some heavy criticism. In an article on UN-business partnerships published by UNRISD in 2000, this author suggested that one of the risks associated with the warming of relations between the UN and TNCs was that of heightened tensions between the UN and certain civil society actors. During the past two years such tensions have indeed escalated. This is most evident in communications between the Global Compact office and the US-based NGO Corpwatch. Arguments between a UN office and a particular NGO shouldn t come as a surprise. Of concern in this case, however, is the fact that Corpwatch acts as the Secretariat for the Alliance for a Corporate Free UN which is composed of several well-known and respected northern and southern-based research and advocacy groups such as Third World Network, the Institute for Policy Studies, Focus on the Global South and the Brazilian Institute for Social and Economic Analyses (IBASE). At the WSF it was evident that these organizations have assumed a leading role in the global movement that is trying to construct an alternative to the contemporary model of economic globalization. Amongst the 5,000 organizations present at the WSF, and many that could not make it to Porto Alegre, such organizations have considerable legitimacy."(pg 1 )engWith permission of the license/copyright holdercivil societyglobal compactPolitical ethicsEthics of political systemsEthics of lawRights based legal ethicsPeace ethicsGovernance and ethicsDevelopment ethicsPreprint