The Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO)
“Undue corporate influence undermines states’ capacity to legislate, adjudicate, and regulate to protect the public interest, it impairs states’ capacity to meet their obligations to respect, protect, and fulfill human rights, and ultimately erodes citizens’ trust in their governments. Undue corporate influence manifests at the national, intergovernmental, and international level, including in international trade and investment regimes”. (SOMO and International Corporate Accountability Roundtable)
SOMO, founded in 1973, is a non-profit research organization based in the Netherlands that focuses on social, environmental, and economic issues associated with sustainable development. It researches multinational corporations and their impact on people and planet, and its expertise ranges from supply chains to corporate research, corporate accountability, and economic reform. The main sectors it covers are electronics, energy and water, minerals, food and agriculture, clothing, pharma, and finance.
SOMO also coordinates four networks: MVO Platform, OECD Watch, GoodElectronics, and Tax Justice Nederland.
Along with Oyu Tolgoi Watch, in 2020 SOMO launched a website called “Undermining Mongolia,” dedicated to corporate capture in Mongolia, particularly in relation to the Oyu Tolgoi mine, the biggest in the country. This website is accompanied by a research report titled: “Undermining Mongolia: Corporate hold over development trajectory.” In its own words: “This report exposes, using leaked cables from the US embassy, how mining companies Rio Tinto and Turquoise Hill Resources and the powerful states backing it, such as the US, Canada, and the UK, managed to push the Government of Mongolia into a deal that ineffectively safeguards the interests of its people.”
In 2023, SOMO began a new project called “The Counter,” which is a free global helpdesk for environmental and social activists challenging corporate power, including issues of environmental damage, climate disruption, social injustice, and human rights violations. The Counter helps activists uncover and hold multinational corporations and their owners to account for their harmful and unfair business practices.