The corporate promises being made at the earth summit are likely to prove hollow - The world's biggest corporations, with the UN's blessing, have negotiated a series of "partnership agreements" - voluntary commitments obliging those companies to respect the environment and defend human rights...These, they claim, will show that international law is not required to force corporations to respect human rights and the environment...But just as the chief executives congratulate each other, a new report suggests that the partnership agreements are worthless. The company most clearly associated with "corporate social responsibility" [BP], which has launched one of the new partnerships and sponsored some of the key events at the summit, appears to be saying one thing and doing just the opposite [in the Baku-Tblisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline project]