14 January 2002
FICSA Update No. 4 2002
Secretary-General Kofi Annan Convenes First Meeting of Global Compact Advisory Council
In a major step towards strengthening Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s expanding "Global Compact" initiative – which promotes action in support of nine internationally accepted principles on human rights, labour rights, and the environment – the first meeting of its Advisory Council convened on 8 January 2002, bringing together senior business executives, international labour leaders, and heads of civil society organizations from across the world.
The unprecedented meeting marked the creation of the first United Nations advisory body composed of both public and private sector leaders, who, together, will assist the Secretary-General in his effort to promote cooperative solutions to the dilemmas and challenges of globalization.
The Global Compact, an entirely voluntary initiative, has attracted the participation of several hundred companies from dozens of countries from both North and South.
Conspicuously absent, however, are the intergovernmental organizations, notably from the United Nations common system, whose staff does not – yet – enjoy Global Compact principle No. 3: "...effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining".
FICSA wishes to recall on this occasion that "charity begins at home".