WE are concerned that current trends in the global economy may be conferring unprecedented rights to multinational corporations often at the expense of people and the environment. Companies with overseas operations should ensure that they do not exploit weak or non-existent human rights, labor, and environmental standards to the detriment of local communities and ecosystems.
WE urge you to openly support new standards that require the US-based multinational corporations to publicly disclose basic information on the impacts of their foreign operations on the local communities in which they operate. Such public disclosures should include information on environmental impacts, as well as information on human rights and labor practices and conditions. This ?International Right to Know? concept, which is based on US domestic ?right to know? laws, would provide consumers, communities, and governments with vital information to effectively monitor environmental, labor, and human rights conditions.
IN particular, we are concerned about recent and ongoing cases involving US-based oil companies participating in oil and natural gas extraction projects in Nigeria, Burma, Chad, Cameroon, and Ecuador. We are troubled by the patterns of human rights violations and environmental destruction in the affected communities associated with the development and operations of these projects.
REQUIRING US companies to disclose more information on their foreign operations will help empower communities around the world to support a safer and cleaner environment and it may deter US-based companies from contributing to human rights violations when operating in repressive climates. We urge you to publicly support and promote these ?International Right To Know? standards. We believe developing and enforcing such standards is a necessary first step to ensure that the proponents of the corporate global economy do not undermine environmental, labor or human rights protections to the detriment of people and the planet.
NAME ADDRESS
1 _________________________________________________________________
2 _________________________________________________________________
3 _________________________________________________________________
4 _________________________________________________________________
5 _________________________________________________________________
6 _________________________________________________________________
7 ________________________________________________________________
8 _________________________________________________________________
9 _________________________________________________________________
10 _________________________________________________________________
Mail to: President George W. Bush, The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington DC 20500