"NGOs file complaint in Germany accusing coffee giants of rights abuse", 30 October 2025

Several NGOs said Thursday they had filed a legal complaint in Germany accusing giant coffee companies of sourcing beans from suppliers that exploit workers and violate human rights.

The complaint alleges that Nestle, Starbucks, Dallmayr and the Neumann Kaffee Gruppe (NKG) have all violated Germany’s Supply Chain Act, which requires companies to monitor human rights and environmental issues throughout their global supply chains... The group cited several previous reports by NGOs that found alleged human rights and labour issues at coffee suppliers in China, Mexico, Brazil and Uganda.

AFP could not reach BAFA on Thursday to confirm receipt of the complaint.

Starbucks told Germany’s Spiegel magazine that it rejects the “unfounded” accusations in the complaint, and said that the company is committed “to sourcing coffee responsibly, including by promoting respect for human rights”.

Nestle told AFP in a statement that the company has “robust human rights due diligence processes” and has already “duly investigated each situation referred to by this NGO at the time each report was released”. “We confirm that Nestle was either not directly linked to the farms in question or has since ended a relationship with a supplier due to a failure to meet our standards,” the company said...

The Neumann Kaffee Gruppe, meanwhile, said that the company launched a “thorough review” of Kaweri Coffee Plantation in Uganda after becoming aware of the allegations. The review could not rule out “isolated cases” of misconduct, but found that “systems and processes” at Kaweri meet or exceed legal standards. “NKG does not tolerate any form of human rights abuse, including forced labor, human trafficking, or exploitative labor practices,” the Neumann Kaffee Gruppe said in a statement...

Read Dallmayr's statement to the Coffee Watch report: