2007: A REVIEW OF THE YEAR

Ethical Corp., 12/28/07
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A lot happened in the world of Corporate Social Responsibility during 2007. Did the year really represent a "tipping point" as some have suggeted? Have all the arguments been won? Or is there still a long way to go? The year started with climate change at the top of the agenda - a place it has never looked in serous danger of relinquishing. We have numerouse groups of business leaders from across the world coming together to send messages to political leaders about the need for real action, and we have seen individual businesses making their pitch for leadership on the issue. 2007 was the year that there could no longer be any doubt that corporate social responsibility arrived as a strategic issue for business. That fact along makes the prospect for 2008 very interesting indeed.

SHAME OF IMPORTED LABOR IN KURDISH NORTH OF IRAQ

New York Times, 12/29/07
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Thousands of foreign workers have come to the Kurdish districts in the last three years, a huge turnaround for a place that had hardly any before, making it one of the fastest growing Middle Eastern destinations for the world's impoverished. They come from Ethiopia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Bangladesh and Somalia, supporting an economic boom here that is transforming Kurdish society. But nearly all foreign workders interviewed over a two-week period here said they had been decived by unscrupulous agents who arrange the journey. Unable to communicate, some arrive not knowing what country they are in.