The Corporate Stranglehold over the United Nations

A new REPORT [1] from the Polaris Institute outlines how water multinationals play an increasing role in controlling the United Nations' agenda on water issues.



The report deals with the corporate stranglehold inside the UN by water services companies, the food and beverage industry, plus numerous other large water using multinational corporations and their business associations.



Read the full report HERE [1]



Excerpt from the Introduction:



At the 5th World Water Forum in Istanbul, the global water justice movement along with progressive parliamentarians from over a dozen countries succeeded in derailing the Forum’s ministerial process. In this vein, close to a dozen countries (including Benin, Bolivia, Chile, Cuba, Ecuador, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay and Venezuela) signed onto a statement calling on states to develop a global water forum based on the principles of democracy, full participation, equity, transparency and social inclusion within the framework of the United Nations. A larger number of countries also signed a statement calling for water to be recognized as a human right within the United Nations Charter.



These actions echoed calls from many water justice activists throughout the week and in the ensuing months to have the United Nations (UN) convene the next World Water Forum. This strategy of calling for a new, more democratic, and representative home for a global water forum gained exposure in numerous media reports during and after the forum. It also successfully highlighted both the lack of transparency at the triennial meetings and the problems with the forum’s pro business themes and workshops.



Forum organizers, the World Water Council (WWC) , were forced to make defensive statements to the media countering that a UN organized world water forum would not be inclusive. Apparently, the WWC was fearful that if the United Nations organized a global water forum with help from the global water justice movement, their ability to set the agenda as well as forge business deals and partnerships would be limited under a more inclusive and accountable structure.