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11 Mar 2020

Dutch National Contact Point finds Veon failed to follow OECD guidelines regarding workers' rights in Bangladesh; incl. company response

Meinzahn, Getty Images

On 11 February 11 2020, the Dutch National Contact Point (NCP) published its Final Statement regarding the Specific Instance of UNI Global Union versus VEON. The complaint alleged that Banglalink, a subsidiary of Dutch-headquartered telecoms company VEON, failed to respect workers' freedom of association rights in Bangladesh. 

In its final statement, the Dutch NCP found that Veon "is not acting in line with what can be expected from it under the OECD Guidelines" with regard to its operations in Bangladesh.

Business & Human Rights Resource Centre invited Veon to comment on the final statement, including allegations that the company was not willing to enter into a dialogue in the framework of the NCP procedure. Their response is available below.

In March 2022, the NCP released a review of the recommendations it issued in 2020, finding that on the basis of the information provided during the evaluation, VEON has not adequately addressed any of the recommendations.

Company Responses

VEON (formerly VimpelCom) View Response

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