The United Nations Global Compact is an endeavor to spread the benefits of global economic development through different policies and actions of corporate. The secretary general of United Nations following the Davos meeting in 1999 laid the foundation of the Compact. Initially, the Compact was consisted of nine principles but later one more principle has been added to it. Now, the Compact consists of ten principles (Rasche & Kell, 2010).
The first tenet of the Compact is about the protection of the internationally acknowledge human rights and some other tenets that are related to business are the elimination of all kinds of forced labor, including the elimination of child labor. The compact emphasizes that the business should take precautionary steps to protect the environment and the development of environmentally friendly technologies to deal with the environmental challenges (Rasche & Kell, 2010). Furthermore, the Global Compact gives special emphasis to the elimination of corruption in all its forms, including extortion and bribery.
The primary aim of the United Nation Global Compact is to give special attention to human rights, labor rights and the environment globally. However, one of the important purposes of the compact is to develop a network at the regional level to foster the United Nations universal values across the world through different corporate systems. This will be possible through groups of companies, NGOs and the important actors in the regions. The United Nations Global Compact allows the multinational companies to involve in the regional level to discuss the issues. All the companies are bond to follow the ten principles. The United Nations Global Compact is helping fostering business globally by making alliance at regional levels and allowing the multinational companies to be involved into the issues at regional level (Global Policy Forum, 2010).
The United Nation Global Compact and its ten tenets will be very helpful to better the globalization of the business process. In the modern post-industrial world, the corporate system working according to their principles to accumulate economic profit has caused great damage to the natural environment. People only think of gaining economic profits and do not take the environmental into account while formulating their principles. Therefore, the United Nations effort to develop a global business that would be environmental friendly is a positive step in this sense that it will be an important factor in fostering awareness about the need of developing environmental friendly business and technologies (Rasche & Kell, 2010).
Globalization because of the development in the information technologies has foster social stratification across the world. The social stratification is because of capitalism and in the capitalist societies exploitation and child labor are the common phenomenon. If the international companies become a member of the Global Compact, it will help lessening all sort of exploitation including child labor because the principles of the Compact are against forced labor, including child labor. The eradication of the forced labor and exploitation will be a step towards the better global business process (Rasche & Kell, 2010).
Corruption in the global business is one of the epidemic diseases that, is eating out the rights of less fortunate and less powerful persons (Wood, Logsdon, Lewellyn, & Davenport, 2015, p. 114). Therefore, the Compact’s one tenet is reserved to voice against corruption in any form. Corruption in global business is causing great harm to the poor people by making the poor poorer. Corruption in any form is against the ethic in business, and there it should be stopped from becoming robust. Corruption is the mother of all other unethical diseases in the world of business if it does not stop it will result in adulterating the global business by transporting into the less corporate world. Corruption and extortion are more frequent in the less developed world because of the ineffective ruling. If the UN succeeds in developing a global business that is less corrupt then it will help the organization to spread its universal values.
The United nation global compact has been somehow become successful in making the global business better. The big companies of America have become the member of this compact and is giving hand in hand with United Nation to foster its universal values across the world. Also, the International Monetary Fund, The World Economic Forum and other organizations are supporting the UN in achieving its purposes. Furthermore, the Compact is a voluntary initiative to make the global business better. This compact makes the companies bond to submit an annual report on how it is progressing to internationalize the principles within the organization. The company is also responsible to submit the report to the Global Compact website (Global Policy Forum, 2010).
It is a great struggle from United Nation to make the global business better by formulating the Compact. The fundamental purpose of the compact is to make the world a peaceful and friendly place to the human being. The world would only be a peaceful and friendly place for human being by eradicating corruption, making environmental friendly technologies and by abolishing all forced labors. Therefore, the Global Compact’s endeavor should be appreciated and support to make the global business better in the sense of making it in accordance to the universal values of United Nations (Rasche & Kell, 2010).
References
Global Policy Forum. (2010, Arpil 4). UN and Business. Retrieved from https://www.globalpolicy.org/un-reform/business-9-26.html
Rasche, A., & Kell, G. (2010). The United Nations Global Compact: Achievements, Trends and Challenges. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Wood, D. J., Logsdon, J. M., Lewellyn, P. G., & Davenport, K. S. (2015). Global Business Citizenship: A Transformative Framework for Ethics and Sustainable Capitalism. London: Routledge.
