PRESS NOTIFICATION
World Summit on Sustainable Development
Citizens globalising for corporate accountability
23rd July 2002 - groundWork, a local environmental NGO, is joining forces with international NGOs - such as Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, CorpWatch, Third World Network, Corporate Europe Observatory and the Goldman Foundation - as well as local NGO’s and community based organisations to host a variety of exciting events during the week prior to the WSSD. These activities will form part of a Corporate Accountability Week, which will take place from the 19th - 23rd August in Sandton. The main thrust of these activities will be to call for the world’s governments to hold corporations accountable.
Some of the activities lined up for this week include:
§ Opening address by Richard Meeran - The Corporate Accountability Week will be opened by UK-based attorney Richard Meeran, who has acted on behalf of claimants against Thor Chemicals and Cape Asbestos.
§ Goldman Prize Evening - On the 22nd August 2002, twenty past recipients of the prestigious Goldman environmental prize will be gathering to focus on the further development of a Council of Goldman environmental prize activist, to assist activist facing human rights and environmental challenges.
§ “Greenwash” cocktail party for members of the press - On the 23rd August 2002, global NGOs will expose those international corporations who are most guilty of attempting to greenwash their polluting practises. At this cocktail party, exclusive information will be given on the recipients of this year’s Greenwash Academy Awards, aka the Green Oscars, for the world’s most polluting corporations.
§ Four days of workshops and seminars on corporate accountability with presentations from local community members as well as international environmentalists
§ The launch of The groundWork Report on corporate accountability
§ The development and launch of a united global civil society platform calling for a convention on corporate accountability
§ Other book launches: other new publications to be launched during this week include:
o EarthSummit.biz: The Corporate Takeover of Sustainable Development written by Kenny Bruno and Joshua Karliner and published by the Institute for Food and Development Policy and CorpWatch
o South African People and Environments in the Global Market - a series of five booklets on corporate accountability, published by groundWork.
More information will be made available over the next few weeks.
For more information please contact the groundWork office or view the following web pages:
groundWork: www.groundwork.org.za
Goldman Prize: www.goldmanprize.org
The Green Oscars: www.earthsummit.biz
Friends of the Earth: www.foei.org/publications/corporates/accountability.html
Third World Network: www.twnside.org
Corporate Europe Observatory: www.xs4all.nl/~ceo/index.html
Linda Ambler
groundWork
P.O. Box 2375
Pietermaritzburg
3200, South Africa
Tel +27 (33) 342 5662
Fax: +27 (33) 342 5665
Email: [email protected]
www.groundwork.org.za