<br>From: <b class="gmail_sendername">Patti Rundall</b> <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:prundall@me.com">prundall@me.com</a>></span><br><div class="gmail_quote"><br><br><div style="word-wrap:break-word"><div><div style="word-wrap:break-word">
<div><div style="word-wrap:break-word"><div><div style="word-wrap:break-word"><div><div><div><div style="word-wrap:break-word"><div><div style="padding-left:10px;padding-right:10px;word-wrap:break-word;padding-top:15px" name="Compose message area">
<div><span style="font-family:Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;font-size:20px;line-height:24px"><b>101 NGOs sign the COI statement</b></span></div><div><span style="font-family:Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;font-size:20px;line-height:24px"><b>Call for endorsement of comments on <span style="font-size:25px">"</span></b></span><span style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif;font-weight:bold;font-size:20px">Children's Rights and Business Principles Initiative"<span style="color:rgb(31, 73, 125)"> </span></span></div>
<div><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" size="4"><span style="font-size:14px;line-height:24px"><span style="line-height:normal;font-size:medium"><br></span></span></font></div><h2><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><span style="line-height: 24px; font-weight: normal; "><br style="font-size:14px">
<span style="font-size: 14px; ">Thanks to everyone who signed up
to the statement calling for <b>Clarity on the role of Industry at the UN</b> which we created during the 16th June
<u>Interactive Hearing for Civil Society</u> in New York. We now have 101 endorsers </span></span></font><span style="line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;font-size:20px;font-weight:normal"><span style="font-size:14px">which you can see on link </span><u style="font-size:14px"><a title="http://info.babymilkaction.org/node/458
CTRL + Click to follow link" href="http://info.babymilkaction.org/node/458" target="_blank">http://info.babymilkaction.org/node/458</a></u><span style="font-size:14px"> We will <font color="#ff0000"> </font>keep this list open until late September so do continue to encourage any NGO you know to think about signing up - it can be a useful exercise! Let me know if you want to know more about the developments and what we are doing on this issue. </span></span></h2>
<h2><span style="font-weight:normal;font-size:15px;font-family:Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;line-height:24px"><b><font color="#97248D">Children's Rights and Business Principles Initiative</font></b></span></h2><div><span style="font-family:Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;font-size:15px;line-height:24px">I am now asking you to consider endorsing comments on another important development which is closely related</span></div>
<h2><font size="6" face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><span style="line-height:24px;font-size:20px;font-weight:normal"><span style="font-size:15px">This concerns an Initiative being devised
by</span></span></font><span style="line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;font-size:15px;font-weight:normal"> the UN Global Compact Office (GCO) in collaboration
with </span><font size="6" face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><span style="line-height:24px;font-size:20px;font-weight:normal"><span style="font-size:15px">UNICEF and Save the Children
- </span></span></font><span style="font-size:18px;font-weight:bold"><font size="4" face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><span style="line-height:24px;font-size:15px;font-weight:normal">IBFAN's long term partners. While we support the idea
that the UN should adopt a set of principles on children’s rights and
business, we believe that there are fundamental flaws in this idea that could result in the CRBPI doing more harm than good. </span></font></span></h2><div><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" size="4"><span style="font-size:15px;line-height:24px">We will be sending comments to an online consultation which ends on <b><u><font color="#97248D">15th July.</font></u></b> </span></font><span style="font-size:18px;font-weight:bold"><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:15px;font-weight:normal">If you can endorse IBFAN's comments please send an email to me at </span><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:15px"><u><a href="mailto:prundall@babymilkaction.org" target="_blank">prundall@babymilkaction.org</a></u></span><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:15px;font-weight:normal"> saying so by <font color="#97248D"><b><u>14th July</u></b></font> so that we can say this in our letter to the heads of SCF, UNICEF. </span></span></div>
<div><span style="font-size:18px;font-weight:bold"><span style="font-weight:normal"><font face="Calibri" size="3"><span style="font-size:12px"><br></span></font></span></span></div><div><span style="font-size:18px;font-weight:bold"><span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:15px;font-weight:normal"></span><span style="font-weight:normal"><font face="Calibri" size="3"><span style="font-size:12px">Alternatively or in addition do send your own comments. </span></font></span></span></div>
<h2><span style="font-weight:normal;font-size:15px;font-family:Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;line-height:24px">You can find our comments here <a title="http://info.babymilkaction.org/news/policyblog/CRBPIcomment
CTRL + Click to follow link" href="http://info.babymilkaction.org/news/policyblog/CRBPIcomment" target="_blank">http://info.babymilkaction.org/news/policyblog/CRBPIcomment</a></span></h2><div style="font-size:14px">The consultation and background documents are here: <span style="font-family:Calibri"><a href="http://business-humanrights.org/Documents/CRBPI-consultation" style="color:blue;text-decoration:underline" target="_blank">http://business-humanrights.org/Documents/CRBPI-consultation</a></span><span style="font-family:Calibri"> </span></div>
<div><font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" size="4"><span style="font-size:15px;line-height:24px"><font face="Calibri" size="3"><span style="font-size:12px;line-height:normal"><br></span></font></span></font></div><div>
To sum up our <span style="color:rgb(13, 2, 4);font-family:Calibri, sans-serif;font-size:15px">three main arguments:</span></div><h2 style="margin-right:0cm;margin-left:36pt;font-size:18pt;font-family:'Times New Roman', serif">
<span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri, sans-serif;font-weight:normal"><span><font color="#0D0204">1.</font><span><font color="#0D0204"> </font></span></span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri, sans-serif;font-weight:normal"><font color="#0D0204">The CRBPI is being proposed and developed in close collaboration with the Global Compact Office (GCO) This </font></span><span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri, sans-serif;font-weight:normal"><font color="#0D0204">was severely criticized in the </font></span></span><span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri, sans-serif;font-weight:normal"><a href="http://www.unjiu.org/data/reports/2010/JIU.REP.2010.9_For%20Printing_17%20January%202011.pdf" title="JIU" style="text-decoration:underline" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="text-decoration:none"><font color="#0D0204">evaluation by the UN's <b>Joint Inspection Unit</b></font></span></a></span></span><span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri, sans-serif;font-weight:normal"><font color="#0D0204"><b> (JIU)</b> in 2010 and found to be ineffective and lacking accountability and transparency. The report is well worth reading (1). IBFAN’s has tried for over two years to use the Global Compact's 'Integrity Measures' but has found the GCO to be worse than ineffective. We fear that the CRBPI will be used in the same way as a Public Relation cover for the very worst companies. </font></span></span><span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri, sans-serif;font-weight:normal"><font color="#0D0204"><u></u><u></u></font></span></span></h2>
<h2 style="margin-right:0cm;margin-left:36pt;font-size:18pt;font-family:'Times New Roman', serif"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri, sans-serif;font-weight:normal"><span><font color="#0D0204">2.</font><span><font color="#0D0204"> </font></span></span></span><span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri, sans-serif;font-weight:normal"><font color="#0D0204">The CRBPI is pre-empting the forthcoming <b>General Comment on Child Rights and Business Sector by the Committee on the Rights of the Child</b>, which is expected by 2012. By so doing it is pushing a set of voluntary measures as the </font></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri, sans-serif;font-weight:normal"><font color="#0D0204"> “unifying framework for existing and future initiatives”, diverting attention from the need to regulate business impact on children’s rights.</font></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri, sans-serif;font-weight:normal"><font color="#0D0204"><u></u><u></u></font></span></h2>
<h2 style="margin-right:0cm;margin-left:36pt;font-size:18pt;font-family:'Times New Roman', serif"><span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri, sans-serif;font-weight:normal"><span><font color="#0D0204">3.</font><span><font color="#0D0204"> </font></span></span></span></span><span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri, sans-serif;font-weight:normal"><font color="#0D0204">Like the Global Compact the CRBPI is an incentive-driven initiative with no sanctions for failure to comply with its core principles and provisions. </font></span></span><span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri, sans-serif;font-weight:normal"><font color="#0D0204">It focuses on self-assessed voluntary measures rather than on State Parties’ obligations to regulate the impact of business on child rights. </font></span></span></h2>
<h2><span style="font-weight:normal;font-size:15px;font-family:Arial">Thanks once again if you can help with this!</span></h2><div><span style="color:rgb(73, 73, 73);font-family:Verdana, sans-serif;font-size:12px;line-height:20px"><em>1<span style="white-space:pre-wrap"> </span>UN Joint Inspection Unit Paper. United Nations corporate partnerships: The role and functioning of the Global Compact</em></span><span style="color:rgb(73, 73, 73);font-family:Verdana, sans-serif;font-size:12px;line-height:20px"><span style="text-decoration:underline"><a href="http://www.unjiu.org/data/reports/2010/JIU.REP.2010.9_For%20Printing_17%20January%202011.pdf" target="_blank">www.unjiu.org/data/reports/2010/JIU.REP.2010.9_For%20Printing_17%20January%202011.pdf</a></span></span></div>
<h2><font face="Arial" size="4"><span style="font-size:15px;font-weight:normal"><span style="font-family:Verdana, sans-serif;font-size:12px;color:rgb(73, 73, 73);line-height:20px"><div><u><br></u></div></span></span></font></h2>
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