HOLDING CORPORATIONS ACCOUNTABLE Aliya SulemanSomaitya Ayoob www.corpwatch.org “CorpWatch counters corporate-led globalization through education, network-building and activism. We work to foster democratic control over corporations by building grassroots globalization a diverse movement for human rights and dignity, labor rights and environmental justice”. Introduction: For the past five years San Francisco-based CorpWatch has been educating and mobilizing people through the CorpWatch.org website and various campaigns, including the Climate Justice Initiative and the UN and Corporations Project. In addition to the vast array of resources available on CorpWatch.org, the organization's accomplishments are many. They include playing a role in pressuring Nike to improve conditions at its overseas sweatshops by releasing a confidential independent audit that exposed the conditions at a Vietnamese sweatshop. The release of the audit garnered significant media attention, including a front-page story the New York Times. CorpWatch has also co-produced five live one-hour radio broadcasts from the WTO Ministerial meeting and protests in Seattle that aired on 135 stations. They broke the story of the UN's growing entanglement with corporations in 1999 and have campaigned on it ever since. They are also working hard to re-define the global warming issue as a question of local and global human rights and environmental justice. Functions of the website: News, information, exposes, analysis and first person accounts Updates on CorpWatch campaigns A hands-on guide to doing your own on-line research on corporations Activist alerts and information on how you can get involved in grassroots action Site Segments: Campaigns In addition to providing in-depth information related to corporate globalization, CorpWatch campaigns in these specific areas: Alliance for a corporate-free United Nations Exposing the poor human rights and environmental records of companies forming partnerships with the UN. Climate Justice Initiative CorpWatch is helping to build a new movement for Climate Justice – one that aims to hold corporations accountable by bringing local battles for human rights and environmental justice together with the international efforts to protect the world’s climate. Greenwash Awards CorpWatch gives out bimonthly Greenwash awards to corporations that put more money, time and energy into slick PR campaigns aimed at promoting their eco-friendly images, than they do to actually protecting the environment. Nominations fore these awards come from the audience. Action: You can join CorpWatch's Cyber-Action Team (CW-CAT) and receive regular email announcements of CorpWatch Action Alerts. As a member of the Cyber-Action Team,you will be asked to send a free fax or to email a corporate mogul or government official to help support campaigns for human rights, environmental justice and corporate accountability. The section has a list of current actions and an archive of previous undertakings. Issues: In this section you will find in-depth information on a wide range of issues involving corporate power, corporate globalization and grassroots resistance to it. The sections in the Issue Library are updated periodically, so the library not only serves as an archive, but also as a source of ongoing coverage. You can use the site search engine or peruse the issues below. Hand-on research guide: If you are looking for information on corporations for an activist campaign, investigative article, lawsuit, socially conscious investment, or a school paper, this interactive guide will take you step by step through researching on the internet. The section also gives research tips and provides guidelines as to how to develop a research plan and conduct industry research. Press Here you will find the latest press releases, clips and information about CorpWatch and its campaigns. In the News: This section features breaking news on globalization and corporate related issues from around the world. News items are selected from a variety of sources, both mainstream and alternative. The section is updated weekly and an archive is maintained of all the previous items.