Publications

Reporting Guidance for Responsible Palm

Publication Date: 

January 24, 2017

A wave of companies has committed to sourcing responsibly produced palm oil; yet, problems still persist in their supply chains.

The rapid clearing and burning of forests and carbon-rich peat lands to make way for palm plantations has led to rampant deforestation, forced labor, biodiversity loss, massive health problems, and land rights violations. These issues also pose major regulatory and reputational risks for companies that threaten their market access and overall brand value.

Bangladeshi Union Leaders Detained in Crackdown on Labor Movement, Bail Denied

Publication Date: 

January 24, 2017

Last month, during the peak of the holiday shopping season, tens of thousands of garment workers in Ashulia, Bangladesh, who produced clothing for export, held nonviolent protests calling for a new minimum wage in the range of 15,000 to 16,000 taka (US$191-203) per month. The current 5,300 taka (US$67) monthly wage is insufficient to provide for nutritious food for a family, let alone to cover other basic household expenses.

Open letter to Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha regarding conviction of Andy Hall

Publication Date: 

December 10, 2016

Dear Prime Minister Prayut:

On this International Human Rights Day, we, the undersigned, write to you concerning the conviction of Andy Hall for criminal defamation and violations of the Computer Crime Act. Hall’s conviction was in relation to research he undertook by interviewing migrant workers and sending raw interview data to Finnwatch, which then analyzed the information and published it in the Finnwatch report Cheap Has a High Price. Finnwatch wrote and published the report online in January 2013 in Helsinki, Finland.

Dangerous Delays on Worker Safety

Publication Date: 

November 21, 2016

Three and a half years after the catastrophic Rana Plaza building collapse, major apparel brands and retailers that are part of the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety – including Gap Inc., Target, VF Corporation, Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC), and Walmart – are failing to fulfill their commitments to make their supplier factories safe, leaving hundreds of thousands workers at risk.

RSPO complaint against Indofood for labor violations

Publication Date: 

October 11, 2016

International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF), Rainforest Action Network (RAN), and Indonesian labor rights advocacy organization OPPUK lodged a formal complaint against palm oil giant Indofood with the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), the industry’s largest certification scheme. Indofood is the largest private palm oil plantation company in Indonesia, and has yet to adopt a commitment to using only responsibly produced palm oil. The company is a major joint venture partner of global snack food brand PepsiCo.

Printable Halloween Cocoa Cards - 2016

Publication Date: 

October 7, 2016

Over 70% of the world’s cocoa comes from West Africa, where cocoa farming families, with an average of 6 people, live on roughly $2 per day. As a result, over 2 million children are relied on to harvest the cocoa crop each year. 

This Halloween, distribute better chocolate to trick-or-treaters, and spread awareness about the issue with these Halloween cards we developed with our ally Green America.

How it works:

Tragedy in the Marine Commons: UN Special Rapporteur Response

Publication Date: 

October 4, 2016

The widespread failure to exercise proper control over the operations of fishing vessels together with a demand for cheap seafood has led to a failure both to protect marine biodiversity and to protect human rights. As managers have failed to limit the number of vessels and gear deployed at sea, and technology improvements have allowed vessels to spend longer times at sea at greater distances from the shore, fish stocks have declined.

Financing Forced Labor: The Legal and Policy Implications of World Bank Loans to the Government of Uzbekistan

Publication Date: 

September 13, 2016
Sixty years have passed since the adoption of ILO Convention No. 105 (Abolition of Forced Labor Convention, 1957), yet a number of States have persisted in using forced labor for economic development, the eradication of which was a driving force behind establishing the Convention. Nowhere in the world is this problem more entrenched and pervasive than Uzbekistan. 
 

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