The most recent program of the BBC World Service's The Interview featured a fascinating talk with former UN Human Rights Commissioner Mary Robinson, a woman I've always had a great deal of respect for. Though human rights is an unpopular topic in the post-9/11 world, the former Irish Republic president recently founded an non-governmental organization (NGO) devoted to the area: Realizing Rights.
What's interesting is this. Rather than opposing globalization (a hideous term so broad as to be almost meaningless), Ms. Robinson's organization recognizes the exceedingly dominant international power of multinational corporations and seeks to pressure them into ethical behavior. I've always believed that compulsory or punitive action against corporations should be a last resort and it's more effective (and realistic) to appeal to their enlightened self-interest, such as the creative use of shame, to improve their behavior. Corporations, by their very structure, are amoral: they will always act in their perceived self-interest. Realizing Rights and other NGOs hope to persuade those corporations that doing the right thing is in their own self-interest... and doing the wrong thing is not.
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