Lactenetters,
\Sorry if this is redundant for some, but I thought the List might find this
interesting...
Judy LeVan Fram, Brooklyn, NY
 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
>
>contacts:  Kenny Bruno 718-8325434
>     Joshua Karliner 415-561-6567
>
>Activists Help Kill UN Corporate Partnership
>
>San Francisco and New York--The Transnational Resource & Action Center
>(TRAC) has learned that the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has
>abandoned plans to create a Global Sustainable Development Facility (GSDF)
>in partnership with about 15 corporations. The GSDF was to include Dow
>Chemical, mining giant Rio Tinto, energy conglomerate ABB and biotechnology
>leader Novartis.
>
>"The GSDF was fatally flawed and deserved to die," said Joshua Karliner,
>Executive Director of TRAC and author of "Perilous Partnership," a report
>about the program. "We welcome the news and hope that it foreshadows a more
>principled approach to the relationship between the UN and corporations."
>
>UNDP Administrator Mark Malloch Brown informed members of an NGO advisory
>panel of his decision to abandon the initiative in late May. The GSDF had
>come under fire from many NGOs, including TRAC and some of the members of
>the advisory panel.  Last year, over 100 organizations signed a letter to
>the previous head of UNDP, Gus Speth, calling for GSDF to be abandoned.
>
>The criticisms of the GSDF included associating with corporate bad actors,
>an over-emphasis on the free market ideology of globalization and
>development, the danger of "bluewash" by corporations hoping for public
>relations benefits from wrapping themselves in the flag of the United
>Nations, and failure to abide by the agency's own guidelines in associating
>with private companies.
>
>The GSDF was just one of many partnerships with the private sector
>currently being pursued by the United Nations and many of its agencies.
>
>"Even with the end of the GSDF, we will remain vigilant in tracking other
>UN-corporate partnerhip programs," said TRAC's UN Project Coordinator Kenny
>Bruno.  "We will also continue to advocate for the UN to monitor corporate
>behavior rather than partner with these transnational giants."
>
>-end-
>
>
>NOTE: For more information about the GSDF and UN-corporate partnerships
>in general, please visit <www.corpwatch.org/un>


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