FinnWatch established to monitor companies
FinnWatch in short
Activities of FinnWatch
Objectives of FinnWatch
Organisations in FinnWatch
Budget

FinnWatch established to monitor companies

The trade union movement has brought forward problems related to labour rights. Human rights, development and environmental organisations have been pointing out the consequences of increased influence exercised by multinational companies. The effects of world wide division of labour, production and trade have been the focus of consumer organisations. Companies must apply international commitments such as the UN Declaration of Human Rights, ILO core labour standards and Rio principles. Even the OECD Code of Conduct for multinational enterprises and UN Global Compact give direction to companies. Various operating principles written by companies themselves are becoming common, and even they shall not be forgotten.

FinnWatch started its activities in October 2002, to find out whether the deeds of Finnish companies in the South correspond to their words here. At the beginning of 2006, there were at least 3780 Finnish companies abroad with 910 subsidiaries. Their operations have spread to all continents, especially to Asia and Latin America. According to rough estimates, there are close to 200 Finnish companies operating in China.

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FinnWatch in short

- FinnWatch carries out research and produces information summarized in articles and reports that are mainly spread through our website.
- In order to observe companies zealously, it uses varied sources of information ranging from stakeholders to companies.
- Research is carried out in collaboration with local and other NGOs and labour organisations in the target countries. Workers and other groups of people likely to be affected by the operations of the companies are easy to reach by means of contact networks readily available through the organisations involved in FinnWatch.
- The project works in close collaboration with SwedWatch in Sweden and Norwatch in Norway, since many companies are owned jointly by many Nordic countries.

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Activities of FinnWatch

FinnWatch collects, analyses and spreads information on Finnish companies in developing countries and economies in transition where there is reason to believe that conditions are environmentally or socially unsatisfactory. It is interested in the consequences of these companies’ operations on human and labour rights, the environment and developmental and social consequences in the South. FinnWatch cooperates with Nordic Watches and many other organisations that are working on CSR. It produces information for our network, media and the public. We also give direct feed-back to companies involved.

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Objectives of FinnWatch

FinnWatch’s objective is to bring about concrete improvements in developing countries and economies in transition when business activities are environmentally or socially unsatisfactory. It wants to increase awareness of these consequences in companies and encourage them to true responsible action. The project promotes cooperation of Finnish organisations in monitoring Finnish companies. Our work is carried out with as much transparency as possible, with respect to all parties involved. Further, FinnWatch aims at promoting solutions to discovered problems.

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Organisations in FinnWatch

FinnWatch is a network of seven organisations:

- Service Centre for Development Cooperation (Kepa) www.kepa.fi
- Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK) www.sak.fi
- Trade Union Solidarity Centre of Finland www.sask.fi
- The Consumers www.kuluttajat-konsumenterna.fi
- Friends of the Earth Finland www.maanystavat.fi
- The Finnish Confederation of Salaried Employees www.sttk.fi
- Finnish Association for Nature Conservation www.sll.fi

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Budget

The budget for 2006 is around 60 000 euros, out of which 40 000 euros are support from the Development Policy Information Unit of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. The project employs Eeva Simola, M.A. Journalist as its producer and 1-2 trainees at a time.

For more information, please write to

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