Try to wrap your head around this:
Most of the countries in the world combined don’t make as much money as the top 10 corporations on Earth. Of the top 100 economic entities, 69 are companies…not countries!
Global Justice Now has released new figures showing that the top 10 companies in the world, like Apple, Walmart, and Shell, have a massive combined revenue. Their revenue is bigger than 180 of the world’s countries put together, like Ireland, Colombia, Greece, Iraq, and Vietnam.
Global Justice Now is “a democratic social justice organization working as part of a global movement to challenge the powerful and create a more just and equal world.” Their director Nick Dearden said, “The vast wealth and power of corporations is at the heart of so many of the world’s problems – like inequality and climate change. The drive for short-term profits today seems to trump basic human rights for millions of people on the planet. These figures show the problem is getting worse.”
This year marks a massive silent change in the dynamics of the global economy. Last year, 63 of the top 200 economic “entities” were corporations. This year, 153 are corporations!
Corporations are getting richer than countries at an alarming rate, but who is holding them accountable?
The figures were released to put pressure on the UK government before their working group which will be drawing up a treaty that will make sure transnational corporations adhere to all possible human rights responsibilities. Campaigners want the treaty to be enforceable both nationally and internationally. The UK government is opposed to this, and has vetoed it before.
About the British government, Dearden said, “The UK government has facilitated this rise in corporate power – through tax structures, trade deals and even aid programs that help big business. Their wholehearted support for the US-EU trade deal TTIP, is just the latest example of government help to big business. Disgracefully it also routinely opposes the call of developing countries to hold corporations to account for their human rights impacts at the UN. That’s why today we’re joining campaigns from across the world to tell the British government to stop blocking this international demand for justice.”
