In countries rich in minerals, private companies often benefit from their extraction while local populations remain poor. The way to fight the ‘curse’ of natural resources is to ensure their benefits are shared fairly to improve spending on basic needs, says a report by Oxfam.
Bribery and corruption in business are not only costing countries
billions of dollars in lost revenues, but are partly to blame for the global
economic crisis. Tackling these issues should be integral to the ongoing
reforms of the global financial architecture, says a report by Transparency International.
As global fish stocks deplete, the EU is sustaining its lucrative fishing industry by exporting its
overfishing problems to Africa, the
Caribbean and the Pacific. While European corporations reap vast profits, local
small fishers are left with empty coasts and barren seas, says a report by GRAIN.
Environmental damage caused by the oil industry in the Niger Delta has brought poverty, conflict and despair to local people. Energy corporations have undermined communities' rights to health, employment and an adequate standard of living, says a report by Amnesty International.
Local communities throughout the tropics are suffering as agribusiness seek
to redesign the world map of sugar by introducing GM. This development must be rejected as
the industrialisation of a food crop with significant cultural and economic
meaning, warns a report by GRAIN.
The US-led 'reconstruction' of Iraq and Afghanistan illustrates the growing role of agribusiness on the battlefield, the blossoming of a private 'development' industry and a dangerous merging of the military and corporate humanitarianism, argue GRAIN.
A new report has named numerous major
banks that conduct business with corrupt regimes. By accepting such customers,
these banks are assisting those who are squandering state assets to enrich themselves or
brutalise their own people. Report by Global Witness.
