"Practising human rights due diligence in the palm oil industry", 18 April 2024

Concerns over labour rights abuse in Malaysia’s palm oil sector has put the industry under scrutiny in recent years. In 2022, the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (SUHAKAM) found that eight out of every 1,000 workers in the palm oil plantation sector in Malaysia were subjected to forced labour.

One important solution to this is the application of human rights due diligence (HRDD)....

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Case study 1: Sime Darby Plantation (SDP)

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How does SDP address human rights issues?

We take a holistic approach towards HRDD. First, we have our human rights charter, which is a policy commitment from the very top. All our operations undergo internal audits and external audits. We have a dedicated team which conducts internal assessments based on the RSPO (the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil) and MSPO (Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil) schemes. We have also made available various grievances channels and social dialogue platforms for our workers, and ensure they are aware of these channels and are comfortable using them.

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Case study 2: FGV Holdings

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In 2020, FGV faced a ban by US CBP due to allegations of human rights abuses. What actions have FGV taken in response and what lessons did FGV take from this incident?

We are currently rolling out our action plan rigorously and plan to submit the final report as soon as possible. Included in our action plan is the reimbursement of recruitment fees, as some workers claim they had to pay a fee to enter Malaysia. We have completed the reimbursement of close to RM74 million total for our existing workers.

FGV has reinforced its due diligence on the appointment of recruitment agencies through a pre-sourcing mechanism to evaluate prospective recruitment agencies on their commitment to human rights and labour standards. This was followed by a due diligence exercise in the source countries where recruitment agencies were further evaluated on their operational processes and facilities.

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