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 Agriculture & livestock industry: 1 Aug. 2002 to present 

See also other materials on agriculture industry.

NEW (recent additions to this section; top item is most recent addition)
Unilever denies child labour link - Unilever, the Anglo-Dutch consumer goods giant, has denied that its policies encourage child labour in India...The report, published by the India Committee of the Netherlands, said Unilever buys hybrid cotton seeds from farmers who pay children a handful of rupees to work long hours in hazardous conditions. (Simon Fraser, BBC News, 6 May 2003)

GUATEMALA: Child Labor Rate Triples In Eight Years, New Report Says -...Guatemala has the highest number of child laborers in the Central American region, with 62.8 percent of its child laborers working in agricultural activities...many of the children are also employed in dangerous activities, such as mining or making fireworks. (UN Wire, 30 Apr. 2003)

Unilever’s bid for responsible agriculture - Roger Cowe takes a look at Unilever’s forays into sustainable development -...The research was part of Unilever’s sustainable agriculture project, which includes spinach in Germany, tomatoes in Australia, tea in several countries and peas in the UK. The pea project is a rigorous assessment of farming methods and has as its aim the development of a more sustainable approach. The aim is to improve the soil and biodiversity, reduce energy inputs and water pollution and provide benefits to local rural economies. (Roger Cowe, in Ethical Corporation Magazine, 24 Apr. 2003)

Rural Slavery Tough to Root Out [Brazil] - An estimated 25,000 men, women and children continue to work today as slave labourers in rural Brazil, despite persistent complaints by human rights organisations and promises by the new government to eradicate the practice over the next four years. But slave labour, in the form of debt bondage, is not exclusively employed by Brazilian plantation owners, as shown by the Senor estate in the northern state of Maranhao, which is owned by a Belgian company, and was holding more than 200 workers in slavery conditions...The Belgian company that owned the Senor estate was prosecuted and forced to pay back wages to its 200 workers. (Mario Osava, Inter Press Service, 23 Apr. 2003)

Study: Brazil's child laborers exceed 5.5M - There are more than 5.5 million child laborers in Brazil, a study released Wednesday said, and more than 2 million are ages 5 to 14...Most of the child laborers are in the impoverished northeast and south, and just over 43 percent work in agriculture. More than 51 percent of those surveyed said they worked with potentially dangerous chemicals or hazardous machinery. (Carmen Gentile, UPI, 16 Apr. 2003)

U.S. proposes rules to cut diesel pollution - The Bush Administration proposed new rules Tuesday that aim to drastically reduce diesel pollution generated by farm and industrial equipment over the next decade. (Todd Zwillich, Reuters, 15 Apr. 2003)

1 Aug. 2002 to present:

2003:

Unilever denies child labour link - Unilever, the Anglo-Dutch consumer goods giant, has denied that its policies encourage child labour in India...The report, published by the India Committee of the Netherlands, said Unilever buys hybrid cotton seeds from farmers who pay children a handful of rupees to work long hours in hazardous conditions. (Simon Fraser, BBC News, 6 May 2003)

GUATEMALA: Child Labor Rate Triples In Eight Years, New Report Says -...Guatemala has the highest number of child laborers in the Central American region, with 62.8 percent of its child laborers working in agricultural activities...many of the children are also employed in dangerous activities, such as mining or making fireworks. (UN Wire, 30 Apr. 2003)

Unilever’s bid for responsible agriculture - Roger Cowe takes a look at Unilever’s forays into sustainable development -...The research was part of Unilever’s sustainable agriculture project, which includes spinach in Germany, tomatoes in Australia, tea in several countries and peas in the UK. The pea project is a rigorous assessment of farming methods and has as its aim the development of a more sustainable approach. The aim is to improve the soil and biodiversity, reduce energy inputs and water pollution and provide benefits to local rural economies. (Roger Cowe, in Ethical Corporation Magazine, 24 Apr. 2003)

Rural Slavery Tough to Root Out [Brazil] - An estimated 25,000 men, women and children continue to work today as slave labourers in rural Brazil, despite persistent complaints by human rights organisations and promises by the new government to eradicate the practice over the next four years. But slave labour, in the form of debt bondage, is not exclusively employed by Brazilian plantation owners, as shown by the Senor estate in the northern state of Maranhao, which is owned by a Belgian company, and was holding more than 200 workers in slavery conditions...The Belgian company that owned the Senor estate was prosecuted and forced to pay back wages to its 200 workers. (Mario Osava, Inter Press Service, 23 Apr. 2003)

Study: Brazil's child laborers exceed 5.5M - There are more than 5.5 million child laborers in Brazil, a study released Wednesday said, and more than 2 million are ages 5 to 14...Most of the child laborers are in the impoverished northeast and south, and just over 43 percent work in agriculture. More than 51 percent of those surveyed said they worked with potentially dangerous chemicals or hazardous machinery. (Carmen Gentile, UPI, 16 Apr. 2003)

U.S. proposes rules to cut diesel pollution - The Bush Administration proposed new rules Tuesday that aim to drastically reduce diesel pollution generated by farm and industrial equipment over the next decade. (Todd Zwillich, Reuters, 15 Apr. 2003)

TRADE: Central American Deal a Dud, Activists Say - Activists from labor, development, human rights, and farm groups are calling on the United States and five Central American countries not to rush a trade agreement [Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA)] that they say is undemocratic and would drive farmers and other vulnerable groups deeper into poverty. (Emad Mekay, Inter Press Service, 10 Apr. 2003)

People's Congress Urges Land, Food Without Poisons - Agricultural workers and their families are being poisoned, rural lands, forests, oceans and waters are devastated, biodiversity is being destroyed, and food is unfit for human consumption. With these words, 140 participants from 17 countries at the First Pesticide Action Network Asia and the Pacific Congress in Manila last week warned the world that industrial agriculture as conducted by transnational corporations is undermining the resources needed to sustain food production. (Environment News Service, 7 Apr. 2003)

Students urge Taco Bell boycott [USA] -...UA [University of Arizona] students joined a group of campus protests across the country, including some at Cornell University and University of Southern California, to boycott Taco Bell for their connection to a tomato farm in Florida with substandard workers’ rights. (Bob Purvis, Arizona Daily Wildcat, 7 Apr. 2003)

TANZANIA: Country Touts Legal Reforms In Line With Child Labor Treaties - The government of Tanzania is working to align its labor laws with international treaties banning child labor, Minister for Labor, Youth Development and Sports Juma Kapuya told parliamentarians Wednesday...According to the International Labor Organization, 1,109 Tanzanian children were taken out of jobs in mining, agriculture, construction, prostitution and domestic work in 2002. (UN Wire, 4 Apr. 2003)

press release: West Africa: Stop Trafficking in Child Labor - Child labor on cocoa farms "tip of the iceberg" - West African governments are failing to address a rampant traffic in child labor that could worsen with the region’s growing AIDS crisis, Human Rights Watch charged in a new report released today...Human Rights Watch called on the Togolese government to ratify international treaties prohibiting child trafficking, and made detailed recommendations to the governments of Togo, Gabon, Nigeria, Benin, Niger, Ivory Coast and Ghana regarding the prevention and punishment of trafficking, as well as the protection of trafficked children. (Human Rights Watch, 1 Apr. 2003)

As Bolivian Miners Die, Boys Are Left to Toil - In Latin America, languishing in its worst economic cycle in decades, the use of child labor is becoming more widespread. The children sell knickknacks on streets, work the fields, tend restaurants and, increasingly, work in dangerous jobs in industry and mining. The problem is particularly pervasive in Bolivia, a poor, isolated country of 8.3 million people gripped by political turbulence and recession. An estimated 800,000 children work in this country, with thousands toiling in mines or assisting in the sugar cane harvests, some of the riskiest work. (Juan Forero, New York Times, 24 Mar. 2003)

SAS [Students Against Sweatshops] continues push to oust Taco Bell [USA] - Due to labor issues surrounding the people who pick tomatoes for Taco Bell, a Grand Valley student organization is trying to get the restaurant kicked off campus. Allison Kranz, member of Students Against Sweatshops, a fair labor and human rights organization, has been working on the project for over a year now. (Danielle McGillis, Grand Valley Lanthorn, 19 Mar. 2003)

Michigan bars corn farmers from using herbicide [Balance Pro, manufactured by Bayer Crop Science] that critics say is linked to water pollution [USA] (Associated Press, 19 Mar. 2003)

UK votes to keep highly toxic pesticide - The highly toxic pesticide aldicarb will continue to be used on vegetables in the UK following a decision by European farm ministers yesterday. (Friends of the Earth, 19 Mar. 2003)

External Monitor Gives Chiquita SA8000 Certification for Costa Rica Banana Farms - Chiquita Brands International Inc. said that Bureau Veritas Quality International (BVQI), an external auditing organization, has certified that Chiquita’s banana farms in Costa Rica meet the Social Accountability 8000 (SA8000) labor standard. According to the AFX Global Ethics Monitor, BVQI has certified that Chiquita’s Costa Rica farms forbid the use of child and forced labor, guarantee the right to unionize, require a safe and healthy workplace and provide other safeguards for workers. (Business for Social Responsibility News Monitor summary of article in AFX Global Ethics Monitor, 18 Mar. 2003)

Taco's tomato pickers on slave wages [USA] - Dispute over poor pay by contractors highlights plight of immigrant workers - The American fast food giant Taco Bell has been buying tomatoes produced by slave and sweatshop labour, according to a group of Florida tomato pickers who held a 10-day hunger strike outside the company's headquarters. (Duncan Campbell, Guardian [UK], 17 Mar. 2003)

Brazil Amazon jungle fires reach Indian reserve - Forest fires burning in Brazil's northern Amazon jungle have spread to the reserve of the Yanomami Indians, one of the world's last hunter-gatherer tribes, and the government urged farmers not to light more fires during the dry season. (Reuters, 17 Mar. 2003)

EU wants to simplify limits on pesticide residues - The European Commission plans to set maximum residue levels for pesticides used by farmers across the 15-nation bloc, part of its programme to raise food safety standards for European consumers, it said. (Reuters, 17 Mar. 2003) 

CHILD LABOR: ILO, Inter-American Development Bank Examine Strategies -...Most child laborers in Latin America work in agriculture, especially coffee growing, but urban areas are the scene of child labor and exploitation, including child prostitution (UN Wire, 13 Mar. 2003)

Green groups challenge US EPA on manure controls [USA] - The Bush administration needs to rewrite its rules for controlling manure runoff from the largest U.S. cattle, hog and poultry farms, three environmental groups said in announcing a lawsuit to overturn the rules. (Reuters, 12 Mar. 2003) 

Awá - Amazon nomads celebrate land victory - Triumph for Brazil’s last hunter-gatherers after 20-year Survival campaign - Brazil’s last hunter-gatherer Indian tribe face the future with more confidence this week, after the demarcation – mapping out and marking on the ground – of the Awá Indians’ land was completed. This legal recognition of their territory, ordered by a judge, was the main objective of a 20-year Survival campaign. Much of the Awá’s rainforest has been invaded by ranchers, loggers and settlers, who killed many Indians...The EU- and World Bank-funded Carajás industrial project was responsible for much of the devastation. (Survival International, 11 Mar. 2003)

Brazil unleashes anti-slavery initiative - Brazil unleashed Tuesday a new initiative that would combat the use of slave labor by landowners in the nation's vast rural areas. The federal government is seeking to pass legislation as part of its National Plan for the Eradication of Slave Labor, which includes penalties of up to four years imprisonment for landowners convicted of using what is commonly known as "debt slavery." (United Press International, 11 Mar. 2003)

AFRICA: Agriculture Companies Back Technology Sharing Plan To Boost Food - Agriculture giants Monsanto, DuPont, Syngenta and Dow have agreed to share technology free with African scientists in a bid to spur food production in Africa, the Washington Post reports. (UN Wire, 11 Mar. 2003)

Sale of Fairtrade products doubles [UK] - Sales of goods that promise a better deal for farmers in developing countries have more than doubled in three years, it was announced at the weekend...Sainsbury's now sells around 1 million Fairtrade bananas a week, and has own-brand coffee, tea, and chocolate that carry the Fairtrade certification mark. Last November the Co-op supermarket chain announced it was switching all its own-brand chocolate to Fairtrade. (David Brown, Guardian [UK], 3 Mar. 2003)

Protesters starve for tomato workers [USA] - A group of protesters gathered outside Taco Bell headquarters in Irvine this week as part of a weeklong hunger strike demanding better wages and working conditions for tomato workers in Florida. (Youmi Chun, Daily Bruin [UCLA], 1 Mar. 2003)

Biotech crops Become Common on American Farms Despite Health Concerns - The U.S. government this week approved a new strain of genetically altered corn that promises to reduce the amount of chemical insecticide farmers spray...Despite concerns among critics about possible health or environmental impacts, biotech crops have become common on American farms. (Steve Baragona, Voice of America, 1 Mar. 2003) 

Banned pesticides poisoning millions - Millions of farmers in the developing world are being poisoned by pesticides that are banned in Europe, environmental campaigners claimed yesterday. A report by the Environmental Justice Foundation found that the use of organophosphates and organochlorines in crop spraying in Asia, Africa and South America was exposing poorly paid workers to a far higher risk of developing cancers. (Matthew Beard, Independent [UK], 27 Feb. 2003)

Rural education can cut pesticide deaths - report - Agrochemical giants must make amends for pesticide-caused deaths by funding rural education in the developing world and phasing out their most dangerous chemicals, an environmental group [Environmental Justice Foundation] said yesterday...Leading biotech companies contend that their investment in new technologies is reducing the damage done by pesticides. (Reuters, 27 Feb. 2003)

Multinational corporations: Balancing trick - [book review of Empires of Profit: Commerce, Conquest and Corporate Responsibility, by Daniel Litvin] -...a similar pattern emerges time and again: ill-prepared central managers, local officers facing unexpected difficulties on the ground, political pressures at home and abroad, all resulting in a catalogue of unintended and sometimes tragic consequences. [refers to case studies in the book, including United Fruit Company in Central America in the 1950s, Nike in Asia in the 1980s & 1990s] (Clive Crook, Economist, 27 Feb. 2003)

Retail therapy - Awareness of how and where goods are produced has soared - and so has the fair trade movement -...Now there are more than 100 products, ranging from tea, coffee and bananas to sugar, wine, honey, fruits, juices, snacks and biscuits, chilli peppers and meat. Coming next are fair trade clothes and textiles, and fair trade footballs...To go truly mainstream, though, fair trade must occupy more than a remote shelf in a supermarket. There are the first signs that that is happening as the Co-op and Safeway supermarkets start their own fair trade lines. (John Vidal, Guardian [UK], 26 Feb. 2003)

Workers demonstrate against US fast-food giant - Activists in the United States are launching a mass demonstration against US fast-food giant Taco Bell on 24 February, protesting its tolerance of labour exploitation by its suppliers...Taco Bell uses tomatoes "produced in what can only be described as sweatshop conditions", the Coalition says...Anti-Slavery International supports the Coalition of Immokalee Workers' call for a boycott of Taco Bell. (Anti-Slavery International, 24 Feb. 2003)

Farm labor transit is now more safe [California, USA] - Fatalities involving farm labor vans were nonexistent in 2002, a first in the state since 1992. (Kara Machado, Hanford Sentinel, 16 Feb. 2003)

Clampdown on child labour [South Africa] - The department of labour is investigating claims that children as young as nine are being employed on a farm in the Leeuwehoek district in the Western Cape. (South African Press Association, 11 Feb. 2003)

Kraft criticised over coffee policy [UK] - A Gloucestershire company is being accused of making excessive profits at the expense of farmers in the developing world. The charity Oxfam says Cheltenham-based Kraft Foods is making billions in profits around the world, particularly from its coffee products, while farmers are facing bankruptcy. (BBC News, 4 Feb. 2003)

Banana workers get day in court - For two decades, the workers say, their efforts to win compensation for the damage done by DBCP [a pesticide] - including sterility, cancer, and birth defects in children - have been frustrated by the legal tactics of American chemical and fruit companies. But now they are getting their day in court...A ruling by a federal judge in New Orleans has opened the way for a lawsuit brought by 3,000 Central American banana workers seeking millions in damages, the first time one of these cases would be tried in the United States. (David Gonzalez, Trinidad Express [Trinidad & Tobago], 3 Feb. 2003)

Letter To The Editor (and Responses) featuring Paul Hawken and Amy Domini [debate on socially-responsible investment; refers to labour, environmental, health & other social issues; refers to Chiquita, McDonald's, Wild Oats, Whole Foods, Horizon Organic, Coca-Cola]  (GreenMoneyJournal.com, Feb./Mar. 2003)

Anti-Child Labour Laws Are Toothless [South Africa] -...Anti-child labour lobbyists say that a lack of awareness about the Basic Conditions of Employment Act [BCEA] by police, employers and the public was contributing to the use of children under 15 years on commercial farms, the taxi industry, as well as the manufacturing and trading sectors. (African Eye News Service [South Africa], 28 Jan. 2003)

Government plantations in violation of national labor laws [Indonesia] - Several state-owned palm oil plantations in North Sumatra have employed tens of thousands of workers for years below the minimum wage and without the social security programs. (Apriadi Gunawan and Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta Post, 28 Jan. 2003)

Link Found Between Nitrates Well Water and Factory Farms [USA] - Studies From An Independent Scientific Organization Show Link Between Higher Contamination Of Well Water Near Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (Environmental News Network, 28 Jan. 2003)

WATER: UNEP Urges Better Management As Global Supply Deteriorates -...UNEP warns of steep drops in the sizes of bodies of water, the deterioration of coral reefs and oxygen depletion in the seas, a problem the agency says is caused by industrial and agricultural runoff and could lead to fishery collapses and "dead zones" in such places as the Gulf of Mexico. (UN Wire, 27 Jan. 2003)

ICFTU says the Maldives is paradise for tourists, not workers -...the ICFTU has condemned "a glaring lack of protection for workers' rights" as well as the situation of child labour in the country (International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, 15 Jan. 2003)

Website will give a global voice to Brazil's landless workers - Brazil's landless rural workers will find a new global voice with the launch of a website dedicated to the expression of their culture, plight and projects. (University of Nottingham [UK], 13 Jan. 2003)

Forced labour in the Punjab agri sector [Pakistan] (A. Ercelawn and Sohnia Ali, Dawn [Pakistan], 6 Jan. 2003)

Patents are not the problem with drugs access -...In reality, 99 per cent of the World Health Organisation's list of essential drugs are not patented - yet access to these medicines is abysmally low. The reason is the grinding poverty in poor countries and a lack of health infrastructure. If rich countries wanted to show that they took poor country concerns seriously, they should start reducing agricultural subsidies. (Richard Tren, Africa Fighting Malaria, letter to Financial Times, 2 Jan. 2003)

Pesticide Justice - Dow Chemical, Shell Oil Company and Standard Fruit (Dole Food Company in the U.S.), must pay $490 million in compensation to 583 banana workers injured by Nemagon, an extremely toxic soil fumigant that has sterilized thousands of Central American banana workers, a Nicaraguan judge ruled in December 2002. (Amy Ling and Martha Olson Jarocki, Pesticide Action Network North America, in Multinational Monitor, Jan./Feb. 2003)

2002:

Farmers complying with inspections [South Africa] - Only a few South African farmers are preventing labour department inspectors from accessing their farms...He [Minister of Labour Membathisi Mdladlana] emphasised that the government would ensure that all farmers implemented and were compliant with the relevant labour legislation. (Business Day [South Africa], 6 Dec. 2002)

CHILD LABOR: ILO Official Calls For More Efforts In Central America -...During his visit to Guatemala, director of the ILO's International Program on the Eradication of Child Labor Frans Roselaers cited various programs already working in the region to benefit children who work in dangerous conditions, such as firework factories, quarries, agricultural labor that involves direct contact with insecticides and pesticides, domestic labor and sexual exploitation (UN Wire, 4 Dec. 2002)

MEXICO: Rainforest Destruction Continues Despite Protection Efforts - Farming and logging during the past three decades in one of Mexico's largest rainforests has reduced the 12,000-square mile Lacandona jungle by two-thirds...One of the conservation program's organizers, who also helped start small-scale ecotourism, said that until local residents find a way out of poverty, sustaining the Lacandona rainforest will be impossible. (UN Wire, 4 Dec. 2002)

South Africa to introduce minimum wages for farm workers - The government announced Monday that it would set minimum wages for farm laborers as from next year, saying the measure was necessary to protect one of the country's most exploited groups of workers...A recent study into working conditions on farms found that laborers had the lowest literacy rates in the country and that women were usually paid less and enjoyed fewer benefits than men. (Associated Press, 2 Dec. 2002)

Report: Gender & Codes - If You Want to Help Us Then Start Listening to Us! From Factories and Plantations in Central America, Women Speak out about Corporate Responsibility -...for this study we focus on women workers in Nicaragua, in two sectors - clothing factories and banana plantations...Across Central America women workers have organised, calling on companies to address their concerns, including health and safety, discrimination, sexual harassment, low salaries, long working hours, freedom of association and right to collective bargaining, especially given weak enforcement of national and international labour legislation. (Marina Prieto and Jem Bendell, New Academy of Business, Dec. 2002)

"They will not kill our spirit" - Despite violence and intimidation, banana workers in Ecuador have just completed a six month-long strike on the Noboa plantations. (War on Want, 22 Nov. 2002)

What can corporate responsibility do in the fight against poverty in Africa? Maya Forstater looks at what business can be realistically expected to contribute to African development and outlines some specific examples of corporate engagement to date...DaimlerChrysler: making cars out of Sisal [South Africa, Brazil]...Divine Chocolate: Bringing farmers to market [Day Chocolate Company; The Body Shop; Ghana]...The Woodlands 2000 Trust [tree farming in Kenya]...South African Breweries...Coca-Cola: measuring the business contribution to economic development [Morocco, South Africa]...Supporting SME development: Richards Bay Minerals [South Africa] (Maya Forstater, in Ethical Corporation Magazine, 11 Nov. 2002)

NI-Lithuanian labour trafficking exposed  [UK/Lithuania] - Hundreds of workers are being brought in from Eastern Europe to work on Northern Ireland farms in harsh conditions on false promises of high pay (BBC News, 5 Nov. 2002)

Dairy firm workers threaten to strike [Kenya] - The employees have also accused the firm’s [Premier Dairy Company's] management of denying them their basic rights by barring them from joining any trade union. (Daniel Korir, Kenya Broadcasting Corp., 2 Nov. 2002)

Stop the Dumping! How EU agricultural subsidies are damaging livelihoods in the developing world -...Reforming a system in which Europe’s large landowners and agribusinesses get rich on subsidies, while smallholder farmers in developing countries suffer the consequences, is an essential step towards making trade fair. (Oxfam briefing paper, 31 Oct. 2002)

New plan to save Amazon forests [Brazil] -...Logging and cattle ranching in recent decades have already removed an area the size of France from the Amazon forest (Tim Hirsch, BBC News, 31 Oct. 2002)

ZAMBIA: Hunger, HIV/AIDS Push Children Into Labor, ILO Warns - Hunger and high HIV/AIDS infection rates are forcing more than 500,000 Zambian children to quit school and take up often hazardous work in farms and factories, the International Labor Organization said yesterday. (UN Wire, 29 Oct. 2002)

Six Businesses Vie for Top Sustainability Prize - The World Resources Institute has announced that six sustainable enterprises in Latin America are finalists in a competition [AmazonLife S.A., Cafe La Selva, Comercio Alternativo, Empresas ESM, Solar Trade Corporation, TopAir] (GreenBiz.com, 29 Oct. 2002)

ICFTU Report Denounces Massive Child Labour and Deteriorating Workers’ Rights in Zambia -...children are still toiling in even the worst forms of child labour such as small scale mining operations, agriculture and stone crushing...a deteriorating situation as regards violation of basic workers’ rights in the private sector, including by multinationals...Women are severely disadvantaged....Zambians...infected [with HIV-AIDS] face discrimination in employment as a result of their condition. (International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, 25 Oct. 2002)

CHILD LABOR: Activists Seek Preventive Action In Nicaragua, Ecuador - Human Rights Watch Investigates Child Labor Issues In Ecuador (UN Wire, 22 Oct. 2002)

UN food envoy questions safety of gene crops - A United Nations human rights envoy this week questioned the safety of genetically modified (GM) food and said big corporations had more to gain from its use than poor countries fighting starvation. (Reuters, 17 Oct. 2002) 

Group Moves to Protect Farmers' Right to Seeds -...Farmers' seed rights, according to ActionAid, have become increasingly jeopardized by the global expansion of intellectual property rights, which are often characterized by the use of patents, copyrights, or trademarks, and enforced by international conventions such as TRIPs. (Kalyani, OneWorld South Asia, 15 Oct. 2002) 

Dominican Republic: high-risk work in free trade zones and sugar cane plantations - In a new report produced for the WTO's review of trade policies of the Dominican Republic (7 to 9 October), the ICFTU denounces the serious infringements of workers’ human and trade union rights, particularly in the country’s free trade zones and sugar plantations. (International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, 7 Oct. 2002)

Iowa Harassment Suit Settled for $1.5M [USA] - The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has announced a $1,525,000 settlement of an employment discrimination lawsuit against DeCoster Farms. The EEOC had pursued the suit on behalf of women who alleged they were subjected to sexual harassment - including rape - along with other forms of abuse and retaliation by certain supervisors at DeCoster's plants in Wright County, Iowa (HR Daily News, 4 Oct. 2002)

Davis Signs WWII Guest Workers' Bill [USA] - Gov. Gray Davis [of California] signed legislation Sunday to give Mexican workers more time to recover wages they say were denied them when they came to the United States to work during World War II...The law is intended to help "braceros," the more than 300,000 Mexican farm workers who were contracted by the U.S. government to relieve the labor shortage during World War II...The guest workers and their heirs in 2001 sued the U.S. and Mexican governments and Wells Fargo Bank to recover the money. A U.S. District Court judge dismissed much of the suit in August, but workers' attorneys say they will continue to try to pursue the case. (Louise Chu, AP, 29 Sep. 2002)

Analyis: Values-based supply chain management: Whose values, whose benefit? Toby Kent examines the effects of values-based supply chain management on agricultural producers and workers in developing economies. (Toby Kent, in Ethical Corporation Magazine, 26 Sep. 2002)

Corporate Responsibility: Myth or Reality? [includes references to initiatives by Bell Helicopter, Bank of America, Wal-Mart, Caterpillar, ITT Industries, John Deere, General Electric, Procter & Gamble, Sun Microsystems, Daimler-Chrysler] (Otto J. Reich, U.S. Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, Remarks to the Inter-American Development Bank Conference on Corporate Social Governance, 23 Sep. 2002) 

PHILIPPINES: UNICEF Estimates Child Laborers Total 4 Million - The number of Philippine children working as family breadwinners has reached 4 million, an increase of 800,000 children in recent years, a UNICEF official has estimated...About two-thirds of the children work in the agricultural sector, although some work in more hazardous industries such as mining...The Employers Confederation of the Philippines and the Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry implemented a program to address the plight of working children. (UN Wire, 20 Sep. 2002)

Government bans paraquat herbicides [Malaysia] - The Government has banned the production of all pesticides and herbicides containing the hazardous paraquat and calcium cyanide compound, used in the country’s plantations for over 40 years. (Devid Rajah & Jacqueline Ann Surin, Star [Malaysia], 19 Sep. 2002)

Reports of Pesticide Poisoning Down - Reports of farmworkers poisoned by pesticides in California are declining, but labor advocates say tougher state laws and more enforcement are needed to protect the people picking and packing crops. (AP, 18 Sep. 2002)

LA babies get lifetime's toxic air in 2 weeks - study - A two-week-old baby in the Los Angeles area has already been exposed to more toxic air pollution than the U.S. government deems acceptable as a cancer risk over a lifetime, according to a report yesterday by an environmental campaign group...It said diesel exhaust - from trucks and cars, school buses, and farm and construction equipment - was still the worst source of air pollution. But it also took into account chemicals emitted by dry cleaners and factories as well as pesticides, adhesives and lubricant oils. (Reuters, 17 Sep. 2002)

Patent laws hamper war on poverty - The fight against poverty in the developing world is being hampered by stringent patent laws imposed by rich countries, an independent commission said (Heather Stewart, Guardian [UK], 13 Sep. 2002)

CHILD LABOR: U.S. Pledges $4 Million For ILO Program In Tanzania -...Up to an estimated 400,000 children below the age of 15 are working in Tanzania, mostly domestically and in the mining and agricultural sectors (UN Wire, 12 Sep. 2002)

Protecting the environment, the corporate way [India] - Ion Exchange makes profits in a socially-relevant way: through water treatment, afforestation and organic farming...To positively impact the environment and community life is the goal of this Indian company which offers total water management solutions and sustainable development in rural areas in partnership with NGOs and donor organisations. (InfoChange [India]) [added to this website on 10 Sep. 2002]

Basic change in rural India: Basix (India Ltd) provides integrated technical and financial assistance to the rural poor -...Basix (India Ltd) provides integrated technical and financial assistance through micro-credit schemes to the rural poor and women...The support services of IGS, which works in collaboration with various government co-operatives, NGOs and private sector firms, include arranging farmer-training programmes in collaboration with the local staff, supply companies as well as agro-business companies. (InfoChange [India]) [added to this website on 10 Sep. 2002]

Farm workers' employment charter to be unveiled soon [South Africa] (Mokgadi Pela, Business Report [South Africa], 6 Sep. 2002)

FORESTS: World Bank Launches Partnership To Protect Africa's Congo Basin -...The bank warned that the world's second largest primary rainforest...is put under pressure by logging, agriculture, population growth and the oil and mining industries...The donated funds will support activities in Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and the Republic of the Congo in 11 target areas. (UN Wire, 5 Sep. 2002)

Compendium of speeches, press releases and articles from the "Lekgotla: Business Day" - Johannesburg -1 Sep. 2002 [BASD (Business Action for Sustainable Development) hosted a high profile business day during the Johannesburg Summit that brought world business leaders together with NGOs, labor unions, government officials and others - to discuss initiatives and partnerships towards sustainable development] [includes speeches by Prime Ministers of Canada & Denmark; Tokyo Sexwale, Business Coordinating Forum of South Africa; Reuel Khoza, Chairman of Eskom; Phil Watts, World Business Council for Sustainable Development; Sir Robert Wilson, Rio Tinto; Wladimir Puggina, International Fertilizer Industry Association; Heinz Imhof, Chairman of Syngenta; Mohamed Rafik Meghji, International Federation of Consulting Engineers] (Business Action for Sustainable Development, 1 Sep. 2002)

Amazon foresters make green profits [Brazil] - A project in the mangrove swamps near the mouth of the Amazon [sustainable harvesting of hearts of palm trees] is being showcased at the Johannesburg world development summit as a model of sustainable harvesting...The project on the remote island of Marajo is run by a company called Muana Alimentos - its chief executive Georges Schnyder says the crop depends on a healthy forest to make it productive. (Tim Hirsch, BBC News, 25 Aug. 2002)

Residents gasp for air in smoky Indonesian Borneo - Choking smoke from forest fires and slash-and-burn land clearing in Indonesia has sent scores of people to hospitals, closed schools and delayed flights yesterday...Officials said most of the smoke came from plantations that clear their land using slash-and-burn practices. (Reuters, 23 Aug. 2002) 

Environment, social woes risk development - World Bank - Environmental disasters, income inequality and social upheaval that have arisen from bad economic policies are threatening to derail the battle against poverty around the world, the World Bank warned...From the collapse of U.S. energy giant Enron under the cloud of an accounting scandal to the drying out of the central Asian Aral Sea due to cotton production, unsustainable policies are at fault, the Washington-based lender said. (Anna Willard, Reuters, 23 Aug. 2002) 

Environmental Fiduciary: The Case for Incorporating Environmental Factors into Investment Management Policies - In this report, we show that fiduciaries who manage funds for institutional investors such as pension funds, foundations and charitable trusts should incorporate environmental factors into their portfolio management policies. [includes reference to DuPont, ST Microelectronics, IBM, Baxter Intl, Smithfield Foods, US Liquids, Weyerhauser, Georgia Pacific, ChevronTexaco, Marathon Oil, Deutsche Telekom, Nestle, Southern California Gas, ITT, Textron, Corning, Whole Foods, Hains Celestial] (Susannah Blake Goodman, Jonas Kron & Tim Little, The Rose Foundation for Communities and the Environment, 21 Aug. 2002)

AGRICULTURE: Factory Farming Causes Poverty, Disease, NGO Says - The spread of large-scale factory farms to the developing world threatens to increase poverty and livestock-related disease, Compassion in World Farming said in a report released yesterday. (UN Wire, 21 Aug. 2002)

'Developing nations should monitor' food multinationals -...An FAO study, to be released today, warns that globalisation "has led to the rise of multinational food companies with the potential to disempower farmers in many countries". (Paul Betts, Financial Times, 20 Aug. 2002)

Growers donate, workers march [USA] - Both sides try to sway Davis [California Governor Gray Davis] on bill to expand farm laborers' rights (Mark Martin, San Francisco Chronicle, 15 Aug. 2002)

Workers, Farmers Criticise SAHRC [South African Human Rights Commission] Hearings - Mpumalanga farmers will boycott human rights hearings into the regional crisis on farms this week...Even rural and land rights activists, who represent farm workers, are critical of the hearings. (Sizwe Samayende, African Eye News Service, 13 Aug. 2002)

Dominican Republic - Trafficking of Haitian Children -...Many children go to the Dominican Republic for a few months and then return, but some decide to stay there permanently, joining the ranks of a large informal sector of low-wage farm workers. They live under extremely precarious conditions, in terms of housing and food, and because of their age and illegal status are prone to physical and verbal abuse. (International Office for Migration, 9 Aug. 2002)

CONSERVATION: Study Says Loss Of Ecosystems Costs $250 Billion Annually -...The Financial Times reports that the study included ecosystems such as a Malaysian tropical forest undergoing logging operations, a forest in Cameroon being used for commercial plantations and other agricultural activities, Thai mangroves being used for shrimp fishing and a Canadian marshland drained for farming (UN Wire, 9 Aug. 2002)

Rio + 10 Series: Business Action Addressing Biodiversity is a Rare Species - The Center for Environmental Leadership in Business’ Energy and Biodiversity Initiative represents one of very few business actions that support biodiversity conservation...CELB supports biodiversity initiatives in four sectors: agriculture and fisheries, forestry, energy and mining, and travel and leisure. (William Baue, SocialFunds.com, 9 Aug. 2002)

Fruit and vegetable pesticide 'risk' [UK] - Much of the fruit and vegetables in UK supermarkets contains potentially harmful pesticide residues, campaigners warn. The supermarket chain Somerfield chain came out worst in the Friends on the Earth study, which showed 60% of its fruit and vegetables contained the residues. [other supermarket chains covered: Morrison's, Waitrose, Asda, Sainsbury, Tesco, Safeway, M&S] (BBC News, 7 Aug. 2002)

UNI's Protest letter to the Brasilian president over the death of a trade unionist [Bartolomeu Morais da Silva, of the Federation of Agricultural Workers of Para] (UNI - Union Network International, 6 Aug. 2002)

'Farmworkers paid as little as R216 a month' [South Africa] - Some farm workers in South Africa are being paid as little as R216 per month - and then farmers make deductions for food rations, a chief inspector of the department of labour has told an inquiry into abuse in farming communities. Being hosted by the South African Human Rights Commission, the inquiry...heard that exploitation of farm workers was rife. (Mbongeni Zondi, Mercury [South Africa], 5 Aug. 2002)

Indigenous Peoples' International Summit on Sustainable Development, Kimberly, South Africa, 20 - 23 August 2002 [added to this site on 5 Aug. 2002]

Citigroup backs sustainable business - Financial services giant Citigroup is encouraging sustainable enterprise in Latin America through its work with the World Resources Institute on the New Ventures initiative. Through a series of competitions open to entrepreneurs across Latin America, a panel of experts selects small and medium sized enterprises whose business ideas promise sustainability while respecting social and environmental factors. Selected companies attend an international investment forum, and can win access to business mentoring services...Entrepreneurial schemes to benefit from the New Ventures initiative include ecotourism operators, and producers of shrimps, charcoal, wood, coffee, and electric vehicles for delivering goods in densely populated cities. One Argentinean firm is dedicated to the sustainable breeding of the guanaco - a wild Patagonian camelid - for its wool. In Brazil, Ouro Fértil...uses coconut fibres to create biodegradable and organic products for sale on the local and international markets. (International Chamber of Commerce, 1 Aug. 2002)

Florida Employers Guilty of Slavery - Citrus Workers Held in Debt Bondage [USA] - ...For the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, the June 26 federal criminal conviction of three Florida-based employers for conspiracy to hold workers in involuntary servitude is a major victory. (Micah Maidenberg, Labor Notes, Aug. 2002)