Vatican official urges corporate responsibility, protection of women

(June 07, 2011) Multinational corporations have often ignored human rights, environmental regulations and labor laws in their business practices around the world, causing exceptional damage in underdeveloped countries, a Vatican official said. Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, Vatican's representative to United Nations organizations in Geneva, Switzerland, urged greater attention to human rights by all players involved in business. He made the remarks in a speech on Friday, June 3 at the United Nations Human Rights Council. The prelate urged the implementation of the UNO’s "Protect, Respect and Remedy" Framework, aimed at creating standards that companies will be expected to respect and host countries to monitor and enforce. The focus, he said, is to prevent human rights violations in the first place. Archbishop Tomasi said until now, however, many transnational corporations have deprived their workers of a living wage, forced children into labor, ignored safety and security measures, operated without regard for the rights of indigenous communities and endangered the water, food and livelihoods of local people. The Archbishop said because of the size and reach of many multinational companies and their influence on millions of people around the world, their responsibility in promoting human rights in less-developed countries is "urgent and essential."
Archbishop Tomasi also spoke to the council about the need to address the "tragic reality" of violence against women, including rape as a weapon of war, trafficking of women for purposes of sex and cheap labor, abuse of domestic workers, kidnapping and forced religious conversions. "Violence occurs more frequently where poverty and social instability are prevalent," the archbishop added.