7 Mar 2017

Agri giant Wilmar’s campaign to cover up labour abuses exposed in a damning Amnesty International report is being aided by the Indonesian government’s failure to investigate claims against the palm oil company.

Despite reports that the authorities would create a special task force to probe human rights abuses detailed in the report, ‘The Great Palm Oil Scandal: Labour Abuses Behind Big Brand Names’, no progress has been made. Meanwhile, Wilmar has tried to intimidate staff into denying the claims.

“Workers on plantations live in fear of reprisals for speaking out about their poor working conditions. Such reprisals could include being moved away from their families to a different plantation, or even losing their job entirely,” said Seema Joshi, Head of Amnesty International’s Business and Human Rights team…

At a meeting with trade union representatives in January, Wilmar asked workers to sign a document which stated that the abuses outlined in the Amnesty International report were not taking place on their plantations…