Amnesty takes aim at corporate giants

With over a million members across 160 countries, Amnesty (International) has developed a public awareness of its causes on a global level. To its enormous credit, it has managed to do this while still maintaining the integrity that has sustained it right from the beginning. Amnesty is an organization that survives on the dedication of its volunteers, people from all walks of life, from youths to grandmothers. When Amnesty embarks on a campaign to free a prisoner detained illegally or to build awareness of the plight of those suffering persecution, it has always been free of the taint of politics. It is this that separates it from governments which, despite their best intentions, will always be beholden to national interests. Throughout its history, Amnesty has succeeded in using public sentiment to influence government policy makers to do the right thing.

Now, with globalization and the pervasive reach of global capitalism, Amnesty must open a new front in the boardrooms of corporate giants to further the quest for human rights for all. Big companies on the side of human rights can use their clout to influence and correct the policies of smaller nations that abuse their citizens.

This endeavor is not entirely without risk. Amnesty must use its unique powers to convince the captains of industry to integrate human-rights friendly policies into their companies' mission statements and day-to-day activities. But in putting the Amnesty stamp of approval on multinationals, the human rights watchdog must avoid the appearance of collusion.

Globalization is another step in the never-ending saga of human history that can only be contemplated with mixed feelings of awe and of doom and dread. Human beings possess the tools to make the world a better place, but first they require motivation to harness their potential for the greater good.

-- The Bangkok Post