Human rights abuses, once committed primarily by repressive governments, are increasingly carried out in the corporate interest. In the global marketplace, it is easier than ever to hide abuses in developing countries from the consumers on the other side of the world. Energy companies might pay off militias to gun down local activists, factories might poison the farmland, air or water of the communities in which they do business. Most often, the people who do the hardest work - sewing garments, mining for precious metals, building the prisons and dams - are the ones most vulnerable to abuse and exploitation.
Dole Food Company, Inc. is the world's largest producer of fruits and vegetables such as bananas and pineapples, and also produces cut flowers and nuts. Dole has a history of operating plantations in the US and across the globe, often creating poor working conditions and unsafe environmental conditions such as pesticide use, soil erosion and deforestation.
CACI, founded in the early 1960s as California Analysis Center Inc., is almost entirely a Beltway Bandit—some 94 percent of its revenue is derived from contracts with the U.S. government. About two-thirds of that revenue comes from the Pentagon, but CACI also enjoys the patronage of the Departments of Homeland Security, State, Commerce, Justice and Transportation. At the end of its last fiscal year, CACI had a contract backlog worth some $6.4 billion.
Barrick Gold Corporation is the largest pure gold mining company in the world, with its headquarters in Toronto, Ontario, Canada; and four regional business units (RBU's) located in Australia, Africa, North America and South America. Barrick is currently undertaking mining and exploration projects in Papua New Guinea, the United States, Canada, Australia, Peru, Chile, Russia, South Africa, Argentina and Tanzania. On January 20, 2006, Barrick acquired a majority share of Placer Dome.
The Honeywell name is most often associated with thermostats, but the company known today as Honeywell International is the result of the takeover of Honeywell Inc. by the conglomerate AlliedSignal in 1999. The old Honeywell was a frequent target of antiwar protests during and after the Vietnam War because of its role in making deadly munitions such as fragmentation bombs. Responding to those pressures as well as financial problems within its defense segment, Honeywell announced in 1990 that it was spinning off most of its military operations into a new company called Alliant TechSystems.
Alliance One International Inc a joint owner of Limbe Leaf Tobacco (with Swiss-registered Continental Tobacco Company), which buys its tobacco leaf from growers around the world, including farms that support child labor. The company made the US Fortune Global 500 in 2007, and is based out of North Carolina but operates globally.
Perenco (annual revenues about $3 billion) is a privately held independent oil & gas exploration and production company with its main offices in Paris and London. It has activities in Africa, Central and South America, Turkey and the North Sea. In 2007 it signed an exploration deal with the regional government of Kurdistan in Iraq.
Nike is the world's leading supplier of athletic shoes, apparel and sports equipment with revenue in excess of $16 billion USD in 2007. Operating in more than 160 countries around the globe Nike and is subsidiaries can be found in most shoe retailing stores. In addition to manufacturing their products Nike also runs a chain of retail stores known as Niketown.
Caterpillar Inc. is the world's largest manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, and industrial gas turbines. Famous for their products featuring caterpillar tracks and a distinctive yellow paint scheme, Caterpillar produces a wide range of heavy equipment, mainly engineering and demolition vehicles, including the Caterpillar D9 bulldozer. Among other controversies Caterpillar has been accused of human rights abuses in the Israeli Palestinian conflict by selling demolition equipment to the Israeli Defense Force.
One of the last remaining powerful U.S. conglomerates, United Technologies Corporation (UTC) is the parent company of Pratt & Whitney, one of the most famous names in jet engines; Sikorsky, a leader in helicopter production, including the famous (or infamous) Black Hawks; Carrier Corp., the largest supplier of heating and air conditioning systems; Otis, the world’s largest elevator company; and Hamilton Sundstrand, a leading producer of aerospace products. UTC also has a large fire-safety products business based on its acquisition of British firms Chubb PLC and Kidde PLC.
Stora Enso Oyj is a Finnish–Swedish pulp and paper manufacturer, formed by the merger of Swedish mining and forestry products company Stora and Finnish forestry products company Enso-Gutzeit Oy in 1998. It is headquartered in Helsinki, and it has approximately 46,000 employees. In 2002 it was the fifth largest pulp and paper manufacturer in terms of revenue and in 2005 it was the world's largest pulp and paper manufacturer in terms of production capacity. The Finnish State is the biggest shareholder in the company.
