Index
CONTROLLING CORPORATE WRONGS: THE LIABILITY OF MULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONS Legal possibilities, initiatives and strategies for civil society Report of the international IRENE seminar on corporate liability and workers' rights held at the University of Warwick, Coventry, United Kingdom, 20 and 21 March 2000

6 NGOs and legal action

While NGOs generally choose to challenge corporate power by non-legal means such as campaigns, public awareness-raising, and advocacy, some have taken the legal route and others are considering it as a strategy. In Belgium, Oxfam Magasins du Monde / Clean Clothes Campaign is campaigning for the rights of employees of Adidas, a sponsor of the Euro 2000 football tournament starting in June 2000, and would like to pursue legal actions (see box, p10). In Germany, the Bayerwatch campaign (Because this campaign was sued by Bayer for it's name and lost it is now called Coordination against BAYER-dangers), which - as its name suggests - monitors the activities of the powerful German pharmaceuticals MNC, Bayer, has tried to bring many cases against the company, but has had limited success and was itself sued by Bayer in the late 1980s. After a seven-year legal battle that went right to the German supreme court, Bayerwatch (Because this campaign was sued by Bayer for it's name and lost it is now called Coordination against BAYER-dangers) won the case, but at enormous expense.

Amnesty International's Netherlands section is exploring the possibilities and problems of legal actions with lawyers and other NGOs. In the UK, World Development Movement has been working with Richard Meeran on the Cape case, but is still trying to clarify the most effective role it can play as a campaigning organization; this may be most usefully defined on the basis of public interest.