Agri lobby against anti-child labour bill
The International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF) in the US has accused commodity companies Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) and Cargill of lobbying against a bill that would protect against child labour practices in supply countries.
According to ILRF, ADM and Cargill are against a particular section of the
Farm Bill which calls for the voluntary certification of child labour status in
relation to agricultural imports, in an effort to stamp out the
practice.
ILRF claims that ADM and Cargill have started “an aggressive
lobbying effort” in the House of Agriculture for the bill not to be
passed.
The accusation is in contrast to their corporate literature in
which ADM and Cargill both pledge sustainable labour practices.
Bama
Athreya, ILRF executive director, in an interview with FoodNavigator-USA.com
said that the lobbying by the two companies means that they do not want to be
held accountable for these sustainability claims.
In the past, ADM and
Cargill have made promises to support sustainable sourcing and issues such as
child labour and pesticide use.
Farm Bill recommendation
In
section 3104 the US Farm Bill calls for voluntary certification of child labour
status of agricultural imports. A standard set of practices is suggested that
will verify that agricultural imports brought into the US are not produced with
forced or child labour.
The bill puts forward several requirements,
including traceability and inspection across the supply chain, stakeholder
participation in the supply chain, and onsite inspection.
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