"Europe’s biggest meat firms and retailers driving human rights abuses in Paraguay", 06 December 2022

...Europe’s biggest meat firms and retailers are driving a wave of human rights and land rights abuses against Indigenous and local communities in Paraguay, a report reveals.

The abuses, including lethal chemical poisonings, illegal forced evictions, armed attacks, and criminalization, stem from the activities of Paraguayan farmers growing soy for ADM, Cargill, and Bunge - powerful agricultural commodity traders supplying grain for animal feed across Europe...

Global Witness’ investigation uncovered how European retailers are likely directly linked - via Danish Crown, 2 Sisters and soy traders ADM, Cargill, and Bunge - to farmers involved in two egregious cases of illegal pesticide poisonings, one lethal, both repeatedly condemned by the United Nations (UN).

The small-scale Campesino farming community in Yeruti have suffered severe harms from illegal soy crop fumigations neighbouring their land...the UN Rapporteur for toxic substances and human rights reported that...communities had been abandoned by the state, had not received remedy, and that pesticides were still being used to fumigate soy surrounding their land – mirroring Global Witness’ findings.

Global Witness also uncovered links between European meat supply chains and five land rights conflicts...

The investigation also exposes how so-called ‘soy manifestos’ – industry sustainability initiatives adopted by Danish Crown, 2 Sisters, and many of their retail customers – use leaky certification schemes that allow soy linked to abuses to continue tainting Europe’s industrial meat market...

A proposed EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, currently under negotiation, may not require due diligence on farmers causing abuses in Paraguay, and allows companies to rely on industry initiatives and third-party verification schemes of the type exposed in the report.  

Global Witness sent its findings to all the companies concerned. Nearly all of those who responded reported they would investigate what they regarded to be violations of their policies on human rights and land rights. Only ADM denied any human rights or land right abuses had occurred. Full details of responses are contained in the report...