Speeches and Remarks

Remarks by Ambassador David C. Mulford at the American Chamber of Commerce Corporate Social Responsibility Conference

New Delhi,
April 8, 2005

As prepared for delivery

Thank you, Laura for your kind introduction. Deputy Secretary Ojha, Social Defense Director Mr. Kocher, Mr. Mehta, Mr. Memani, Members of the American Chamber of Commerce, Members of the PHD Chamber of Commerce, ladies and gentlemen: I am pleased to be here today to address the Conference on Corporate Social Responsibility. Mr. Bajpai, thank you for inviting me to participate in the conference. You and your colleagues at the American Chamber of Commerce should be proud of your hard work organizing this important event, together with the PHD Chamber of Commerce.

It is an honor for me to be with you this morning in order to open this workshop on how the business sector, the NGO community and government, can move forward together to tackle trafficking in persons, HIV/AIDS, substance abuse and education - some of the most critical social issues confronting India and the United States today.

These are exciting times for U.S.-India relations. Thanks to the vision and leadership of President Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, relations between the United States and India have never been better. The transformation that has occurred has its roots in our common values and interests. This was particularly apparent last month when Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited India - her first destination in Asia as America's most senior diplomat. Her visit has been called a landmark event in U.S.-India relations. She outlined her vision for "a decisively broader strategic relationship to help India achieve its goals as one of the world's great multiethnic democracies."

As vibrant democracies committed to the health and welfare of their citizens, India and the United States are cooperating to address the most fundamental social issues that need attention today. These issues - trafficking in persons, HIV/AIDS, substance abuse, and education - present significant challenges and provide both a challenge and an opportunity for the corporate, government and non-government sectors to work together.

The corporate reaction to these social problems has been too often to lay responsibility solely on the shoulders of governments or NGOs. Your attendance at this conference suggests that these traditional attitudes have changed. Both public and private sectors have an interest in combating social ills like addiction, trafficking and HIV/AIDS, which have grown to such a magnitude that they affect everyone. Similarly, everyone in both public and private sectors reaps the benefits of more education.

Business has discovered that when it assumes corporate social responsibility, it is not playing a zero sum game. More money spent on efforts to combat society's ills does not necessarily mean less money for the bottom line, or decreased pay for executives and employees, or lower stock prices for investors. Companies know that when they successfully assume their social responsibilities, the morale and productivity of their workers rise along with their reputation in the community and their profits. This reality has been promoted and supported in recent years by a number of mutual funds that invest exclusively in socially responsible companies, and many of these funds have performed extremely well.

So our next question must be: why, among all of society's ills, should the corporate sector respond, first and foremost, to issues such as trafficking in persons, HIV/AIDS substance abuse, and education? The answers are interconnected, although not always obvious.

The child victims of human trafficking, are the most vulnerable of trafficking's victims. In a study funded by the Department of Women and Child Development, the Delhi School of Social Work's Dr. Mukherjee estimated that there are about 3 million girls and women in prostitution in India.
Even more shocking, he estimated that about 2.48 percent of India's girls and women in the age 15 to 35 are involved in prostitution. He concluded that the "induction of the girl child forms an integral part of the trade; the lower the age, the greater the demand and the higher the income." Girls and women forced into sexual exploitation are often betrayed, compelled or induced into trafficking by friends, family or trusted members of their community. Along with the hideous sexual exploitation, the victims are often severely physically, financially and emotionally abused. Many become drug abusers. When they are unable to work, often due to the last stages of HIV/AIDS, they are thrown out on the streets to die.

The corporate community must address trafficking because if it does not the trafficked children of today will not live to be the employees and consumers of tomorrow. We must be honest; those who sexually exploit children come from all social strata and all age groups. Tragically, the sexual exploitation of trafficked children and the HIV-AIDS epidemic go hand in hand and are a threat to all of society. According to the National AIDS Control Organization, NACO, there were 5.1 million HIV-infected persons in India as of October 2003. Based on NACO sentinel surveillance data, the HIV infection rate was in the range of 30-55% among women in prostitution.

We cannot take comfort in the assumption that, since India's population is a billion-plus, India will always have an endless labor pool from which to draw for employees. Just look at the experience of sub-Saharan Africa where, in a number of countries, the speed and virulence of the spread of HIV/AIDS threaten to decimate the local labor force and cause life expectancy to plummet from 60 years to 40 years - within a single generation.

HIV/AIDS must be addressed because it devastates beyond the scope of other infectious disease. Because of its rapid spread, resistance to treatment and the highly stigmatized status of those infected, HIV/AIDS affects not just individuals but whole societies and nations. The pandemic has killed at least 20 million of the more than 60 million people it has infected thus far and has left in its wake grieving families, millions of orphans and damaged economies. This is more than just a health crisis; besides the individual and family suffering, HIV/AIDS poses a threat to the world economy and could conceivably affect world stability. In Africa, for example, according to the World Bank, HIV/AIDS has contributed to lowering GDP growth rates in African countries by 1.5%.

In India, the majority of those affected by HIV/AIDS are age 15-44, the core of India's workforce and its consumer population. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recognizes the economic threat of HIV/AIDS. In his address to the National Student and Youth Parliament, he declared, "HIV/AIDS is no longer just a public health issue, but one of the most serious socio-economic and development concerns."

Substance abuse is strongly linked to the spread of HIV/AIDS. Studies have shown that alcohol use results in a far lower rate of protection against HIV/AIDS in sexual relationships, whether casual or committed. Injecting drug abusers are another large group of people vulnerable to the spread of HIV/AIDS through needle sharing. A study carried out by the U.N. Organization on Drugs and Crime and the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, released in December 2004, characterized India's injecting drug use problem as "widespread and serious." The study noted that injecting drug users consistently engaged in risky behaviors in both sexual relationships and in the injection process. Injecting drug use has long been associated almost exclusively with Northeast India. That is no longer true. According to NACO and to the UNODC study I cited above, the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in injecting drug users was above the critical level of 5% in four areas - Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi and the Northeast.

How does substance abuse affect you as an employer? Very simple: an addicted employee, whether he or she abuses alcohol, marijuana or pharmaceutical drugs, is not a productive employee. Employees who work under the influence of drugs or alcohol cause more accidents, cause more work stoppages and are responsible for more mistakes, all of which can significantly affect the products and services companies make or provide. And of course, substance abusers are more vulnerable to the transmission of HIV/AIDS. Fortunately substance abusers can recover and become former abusers. India has many excellent NGO programs that provide assistance to companies that are interested in developing a substance abuse program and linking it to their health programs.

Corporations also need to support education, particularly for rural and female children, to develop the educated workforce of tomorrow and to provide the most powerful antidote to the social ills of HIV/AIDS and trafficking in persons. Young women who have received an education are less likely to be trafficked, more likely to be able to avoid HIV/AIDS, and more likely to contribute to society.

Corporations are not innocent bystanders. Companies are their policies, whether those policies involve their employees or their customers. The social contracts between business, employees and consumers are becoming increasingly interconnected. Businesses must make decisions daily that will affect their employees and their customers in many ways, visible and invisible, many with consequences that are hard to foresee. Certainly no reputable company wants to develop and implement policies that result in social ills such as child labor or that foster discrimination against employees with HIV/AIDS or that reward or ignore substance abuse problems.

But being a good corporate citizen is more than following the Hippocratic oath - "First, do no harm." As we see clearly in India, corporations and the private sector are often the primary drivers of progress. Corporations can, by their everyday actions in their workplaces, among their employees, through their policies, take the type of proactive steps that result in social models. If your company refuses to use child labor, explores creative ways to help government and NGOs bring about social change, promotes rural education, provides incentives to your employees that stimulate involvement in the social sector, implements an enlightened and effective policy to combat HIV/AIDS and substance abuse in the workplace; then your company will be a beacon of responsibility to your corporate colleagues, counterparts and competition.

So far, I have talked about the "why" of corporate social responsibility and the "why" of focusing on trafficking in persons, HIV/AIDS, substance abuse and education. Now, let me turn to the specific, practical strategies through which your corporate response could be channeled.

First, corporations can implement workplace policies to address trafficking in persons, HIV/AIDS, substance abuse and education. For example, all employers - public and private - can set an example by developing HIV/AIDS and substance abuse policies for their employees in the workplace. We at the U.S. Embassy and Consulates, which employ over 1,800 people throughout India, launched our own workplace HIV/AIDS policy on World Aids Day in December 2004. Workplace policies can be powerful statements to both employees and to society that "our people matter to us and that we plan to protect our valuable human resource and the families they support." Today, Janet Hayman will discuss the HIV/AIDS workplace policy we have at the embassy. We hope that our U.S. Mission policy will serve as a model to businesses and other organizations in India in creating their own policies. These policies are important as they set guidelines for your employees and also provide leadership for the general community.

Second, you can begin to work more closely with NGOs in your community. I would urge each of you to begin by initiating a dialogue and cultivating a national and/or a regional partnership, as appropriate, with good NGOs. Get to know these NGOS and their staffs and gain confidence in their boundless skills and compassion and in their extraordinary professionalism and dedication. Whatever assistance you can offer these NGOS will go a long way toward enhancing their ability to do their work effectively.

Third, become a dependable partner, whether the assistance is in cash or in kind. The NGO you select to work with will be happy to develop with your staff a corporate involvement strategy that suits both the NGO's needs and your company's abilities. Some strategies include in-kind contributions of commodities, such as computers, software packages, telephones and office furniture and supplies, promoting volunteerism in your companies by encouraging your employees to donate their time and business skills to your chosen NGO partner and by giving them credit for their efforts, in your employee performance evaluation process. Service donations can also take on a more institutional character: your legal department or your accounting staff could provide free legal or auditing services to your chosen NGO partner, or you could establish a loaned executive program or a social service sabbatical program.

I understand that Indian businesses want to work with NGO partners, but are unsure how to select and evaluate a potential partner. The U.S. Embassy has some excellent guidelines that we hope will be a departure point for your company to make your first steps towards establishing effective partnerships with NGOs. At the end of this conference, we will discuss the Credibility Alliance and methods for choosing strong NGO partners.

Indeed, NGOs in India are among the best in the world addressing these fundamental social issues. However, their successes do not mitigate the challenges that lie ahead. Most critical are increased efforts for multiple sectors of society to work together to achieve our common mission. Neither governments nor corporations should abdicate their responsibilities to NGOs who rely on the financial support, institutional capacity, and agenda-setting leadership of corporate and government bodies.

I want to thank the American Chamber of Commerce for convening this conference, along with the PHD Chamber of Commerce and for raising these important issues for us to discuss, and take action on. Most important, I would like to thank each of you for coming today and embracing the challenges that that lie ahead. Although they may seem overwhelming at first, there is nothing that our collective knowledge, resources and passion cannot handle. Together we can, through strengthening our global community, also ensure our collective economic prosperity.