Press release 12th June 2017

IOI Group, one of the largest palm oil producers in the world, has today announced its updated Sustainable Palm Oil Policy. Finnwatch welcomes the policy as an important step towards respecting human rights in oil palm production.

Finnwatch has been having a dialogue with the Malaysian company since 2014 after the organisation published its ground-breaking research on working conditions at IOI Group’s oil palm estates in peninsular Malaysia.

The IOI human rights policies, published today, incorporate many of Finnwatch’s recommendations over the years. In particular, the organisation welcomes improvements being made to recruitment of migrant workers and trade unions rights at the estates.

“We are very glad to see IOI Group take important steps towards greater protection of workers’ rights in its value chain. Now the company must make sure that the new policy is implemented in an efficient way,” said Sonja Vartiala, Finnwatch executive director.

Regarding responsible recruitment of migrant workers, IOI has committed not charging recruitment related fees at any stage in the recruitment process. This commitment includes fees paid to IOI and its contractors, agents or their sub-agents in receiving and sending countries. If implemented properly, the so-called “zero recruitment fee” or “employer pays” policy is a crucial step towards eradicating forced labour as high recruitment fees charged to the workers can lead to situations of debt bondage.

Trade unions are now allowed free access to workers on IOI’s estates. This commitment strengthens workers’ rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining.

“Since the publication of our first report on this issue, the IOI Group has already put in place some improvements but now it is starting to tackle some of the root causes behind the dismal working conditions in palm oil industry. We hope that other palm oil producers follow suit the example set in IOI’s Sustainable Palm Oil Policy.”

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Finnwatch is a Helsinki-based corporate social responsibility watchdog organisation focussed on decent work in global supply chains and tax responsibility.

Finnwatch research report, The Law of the Jungle (2014) is available at: https://www.finnwatch.org/images/palmoil.pdf

A follow-up report from 2015, detailing IOI Group’s initial response to the research report and an update on working conditions at the IOI Group’s oil palm estates (2016), are available at https://www.finnwatch.org/images/pdf/Palm_oil_followup_EN_2015.pdf and https://www.finnwatch.org/images/pdf/IOI-2016_EN.pdf, respectively.

For more information, please contact:
Sonja Vartiala
Executive Director
Finnwatch
+358 (0)44 568 7465
sonja.vartiala (at) Finnwatch.org