Dublin action for corporate accountability

national | miscellaneous | news report Tuesday August 20, 2002 17:00 by Joe Glynn - Earthwatch foeeire at iol dot ie 01 478 5100 or 4785101

30 foot inflated corporate Fat-Cat to highlight need for corporate responsibility.

'DON'T LET BIG BUSINESS RULE THE WORLD'
GREEN PARTY, FRIENDS OF THE EARTH AND NGO'S WSSD DAY OF ACTION

On Thursday the 22nd of August from 12.30 - 14.30 a 30ft high Corporate Giant with euros bulging from his pockets will be inflated at the top of Grafton Street, Dublin 2.

This Green Party, Friends of the Earth and other Environmental NGO's action highlights the urgent need to make multinational corporations accountable and responsible for their actions at the forthcoming Earth Summit in Johannesburg. This inflatable corporate fat-cat is on a tour of Europe on its way to the WSSD in Johannesburg
Friends of the Earth invites everyone who is concerned about the future to join them at the top of Grafton Street at lunchtime from 12.30 to 2.30 on Thursday . We will be inflating a 30ft high, fat, Corporate Giant with euros bulging from his pockets. This Europe-wide action aims to highlight to EU policy makers and the public the need for a global framework for binding corporate accountability as a pre-requisite for sustainable development.
Multinational corporations have wreaked havoc upon our environment and continue to deplete scarce natural resources and destroy people's lives.

We call upon the Irish Government delegation and the EU delegation to the WSSD in Johannesburg to move beyond the sweet sounding rhetoric on sustainable development and poverty alleviation and begin to undertake real measures to make sustainable development the overarching goal of the international community.A binding international Convention on Corporate Accountability is urgently required to
establish mandatory social and environmental reporting by multinational corporations. Corporate self-regulation has failed. The very concept has proven by-and -large meaningless. We need democratic accountability and transparency in policy making and in the regulation of corporations for environmental protection and social justice.

Life not profit is the bottom line!

Call Joe Glynn or Tom Prendeville at Earthwatch for further details - 01 4785100