unitex@rubbs.fidonet.org (unitex) (09/12/89)
the continued collaboration of certain States and transnational
corporations with the racist regime of South Africa in the
political, economic, military and other fields as an
encouragement to the intensification of its odious policy of
apartheid. It also urged the States that had not yet done so to
ratify or acceed to the Convention, particularly those States
which had jurisdiction over transnational corporations operating
in South Africa.
He said the Commission also requested an examination by the group
of the extent and the nature of the responsibility of
transnational corporations for the continued existence of the
system of apartheid in South Africa, including legal action that
could be taken under the Convention against transnational
corporations whose operations in South Africa came under the
crime of apartheid.
MANFRED VON ROON, representing the International Chamber of
Commerce (ICC), said the ICC and the international business
community which it represented was firmly opposed to apartheid
and had expressed that opposition in a number of public
statements over a period of many years.
He said the ICC was entirely in agreement with the United Nations
over the need to abolish apartheid -- but, out of very sincere
motives, it differed strongly over the means of doing so.
Disinvestment and sanctions were not effective instruments for
breaking down apartheid; their effects were
counter-productive; and they retarded the process of economic
empowerment of black South Africans which was an important
element in their political liberation.
He said that a number of opinion polls had suggested that an
overwhelming majority of the blacks in South Africa were opposed
to foreign economic measures which harmed their jobs and
livelihoods. They favoured the continued presence of foreign
companies in South Africa. The ICC hoped that members of the
panel would give due consideration to these and other findings.
The ICC believed that it was a particularly inopportune time for
the present hearings to be contemplating the intensification of
disinvestment and sanctions. The whole of southern Africa --
including South Africa -- was currently in a state of political
flux with a number of positive elements. It was certainly not
the time to seek to weaken the economy in South Africa further
and thus played into the hands of that country's right-wing
extremists
He said that many very poor countries in southern Africa were
heavily dependent on South Africa for imports, export markets,
supply routes, and foreign exchange earned by their workers in
South Africa. Mozambique relied on electrical power generated
in South Africa, Zambia received aviation fuel from the same
source, and Zimbabwe required South African locomotives and
wagons to supplement its own railway rolling stock. Further
measures to damage the economy of South Africa would thus
inevitably have a harmful ripple effect on the livelihoods of
millions of already impoverished people outside South Africa. On
the other hand, the ICC welcomed recent events that showed that
there were mutual interests between many southern African States
and South Africa in deeper regional economic co-operation and
development.
Asked why the speaker was defending the status quo, rather than
contributing to the international pressure against South Africa,
he said the business community was warning the Government of the
consequences of the continuance of apartheid.
SALVATORE MARZULLO, of the ICC, said the business community was
also developing coalitions of blacks and whites pressuring the
Government for change.
Asked if the ICC was prepared to take action to set up, within a
month, a monitoring system on the activities of transnational
corporations operating in South Africa and to report to the
United Nations, he said he would be prepared to set up a
committee to explore this issue.
Mr. VON ROON was asked to comment on the suggestion that the
South African business community exert collective pressure on
the Government directly by means of one-day "job actions", for
example.
He replied that such action could shift the electorate towards
stronger support of right-wing groups.
He said the ICC was not happy with progress to date, but there
was hope that such progress would be accelerated soon.
Asked about how the ICC viewed co-operation between South Africa
and certain Western countries in the nuclear field, and about
specific recommendations that could be made to put an end to the
* Origin: UNITEX --> Toward a United Species (1:107/501)
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Patt Haring | UNITEX : United Nations
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