Ten big corporate human rights scandals
The Nike product has become synonymous with slave wages, forced overtime, and arbitrary abuse.
COCOA CHILD LABOUR: In 2012, Nestle was found to be using cocoa grown and harvested with child labour. Nestle pledged to do better. KIWISAVER BOMBSHELL: KiwiSaver providers have been removing munitions makers from portfolios after it emerged some might even be making landmines and cluster munitions.
UNION CARBIDE: In Bhopal, India, a gas leak killed nearly 4000 in 1984. A Federal District Court judge in the US told the company it would be ‘‘fundamental human decency’’ to provide money to help the injured and families of the dead. APPLE AND FOXCONN: Suicides in 2014 and 2015 at Foxconn factories in China, which were making Apple products, put the spotlight on the conditions of workers making iPhones.
SHELL IN NIGERIA: Leaked papers showed Shell conspired with the Nigerian army to quell protests against its activities in the country. TAINTED FOOTBALLS: In the 1990s, many soccer balls were stitched by Pakistani children, including those being kicked around European professional football pitches.
SUGAR ABUSES: In 2014, the Cambodian arm of Australian bank ANZ was revealed as the financier of a sugar plantation in Cambodia which was involved in child labour and forced evictions. The bank withdrew funding after media coverage.
H&M: The fast fashion retailer has faced scrutiny over the conditions and safety of Bangladeshi textile workers who make its clothes.
NIKE: In 1998, Nike chief executive Phil Knight admitted: ‘‘The Nike product has become synonymous with slave wages, forced overtime, and arbitrary abuse.’’ Worker scandals forced Nike to change. KIWI HORTICULTURE: Abuses of migrant labour have forced some growers to face up to abuse of migrant labour on their land.