Option
“What applies to patent rights worldwide should be even more possible for human rights, namely that they are enforceable. The reality looks - at least for now - completely different.
When raw materials are purchased internationally, they often go through countless stations and production steps before they reach consumers in this country. Even if human rights violations are on the agenda in many sectors, far too little is being done about it and companies are talking to their upstream suppliers.
The example of the chocolate industry shows that voluntariness can provide important impulses when it comes to sustainability. But it is not enough to achieve a large-scale transformation to fair supply chains. Because the big companies have been promising for years to stand up for human rights and stop deforestation, but the opposite is currently the case. For the first time in more than 20 years, exploitative child labor is increasing again worldwide.
A new study estimates that around 1,5 million children in West Africa alone have to toil in cocoa cultivation instead of sitting on the school desk. In addition, ever larger areas are being cleared to make room for monocultures. An initiative by Ghana and Ivory Coast, the main cocoa-producing countries, to combat the poverty of cocoa farming families, threatens to fail due to resistance from large cocoa traders with a dominant market position. What are voluntary promises worth if action is not followed? Those companies that are actually prepared to act ethically have to bear the necessary costs alone and those that only pay lip service have a competitive advantage. It is time to end the disadvantage of responsible companies and to hold all market participants accountable.
It is therefore extremely gratifying that this topic is finally moving. In the international year against child labor, Germany decided to take a bold step. In the future there will be a supply chain law there that calls for human rights and environmental due diligence. Anyone who does not adhere to them can be held liable, even if the respective violations occur abroad.
This is an important first step towards more fairness and transparency. Citizens are less and less willing to accept an economic system that sees people only as the cheapest possible factor in production. As consumers, they are now paying more and more attention to where the products they buy come from and are no longer willing to simply ignore grievances. The rethinking began long ago. The German legislative initiative should therefore also serve as an example for our country. I appeal to the political decision-makers in Austria to support an initiative for a European supply chain law that will be discussed in the EU committees over the next few months. Because there can only be international answers to global challenges. A first step has been taken, now more must follow in order to make more equitable use of the opportunities that globalization undeniably offers. "
Photo / Video: Fairtrade Austria.
