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Forced Labor
Wednesday October 7, 2020

Urging investors to call on P&G to act on tainted palm oil

Yesterday, investors in global consumer goods company Proctor and Gamble (P&G) received a brief in which Freedom United highlights their supply chain links to forced labor ahead of their upcoming shareholders' meeting.  Freedom United joined Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and its partners urging P&Gs investors to vote in support of Shareholder Proposal #5 for P&G to report on its efforts to eliminate deforestation and forced labor in its supply chains. The briefing note highlights a series of concerns spotlighted by global NGOs in recent years surrounding P&G’s 

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Forced Labor
Wednesday September 30, 2020

US Customs and Border Protection bans palm oil imports

On September 30, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced a ban on palm oil imported from FGV Holdings Berhad (FGV) — one of Malaysia’s largest palm oil companies and a joint venture partner and major palm oil supplier to Procter & Gamble — due to its use of forced labor. The ban, officially known as a withhold release order (WRO), was issued in response to a Tariff Act complaint filed over a year ago by Global Labor Justice - International Labor Rights Forum (GLJ - ILRF), Rainforest Action Network, and SumofUs. According to 19 U.S.C. §1307 imports produced by forced

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Map of Eritrea Forced Labor
Monday September 7, 2020

Eritrea and forced labor: a history in photos

Photo essay by guest contributor Martin Plaut, a fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, the former BBC World Service Africa editor, and the author of 'Understanding Eritrea.' You can hear him speak with Eritrea Focus chairman Habte Hagos in a special webinar with Freedom United in early October. More details coming soon. Eritrea, on the Red Sea, has been ruled by many nations. The Greeks, Egyptians, Turks and then the Italians held some or all of it. Eritrea has been Ethiopia’s gateway to the Red Sea. In 1935 the Italians, under the fascist rule of Benito Mussolini attacked

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Organ harvesting speak free Human trafficking
Wednesday September 2, 2020

OPINION: Forced organ harvesting could be coming into the UK health system

This article was originally published in Thomson Reuters Foundation. Forced organ harvesting and organ trafficking are interlinked crimes not often associated with the UK. Yet medicines manufactured with human tissue from forced organ harvesting victims could be imported into the National Health Service due to the absence of consent and comprehensive traceability regulations. Victims of forced organ harvesting are subject to abuse and torture. Organs are forcibly removed without consent or through coercion, to then be used in transplants. They are sold illegally to a market of buyers

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Western Aus hand in Forced Labor
Wednesday August 19, 2020

Western Australia accepts our call to action to fight against forced labor

UPDATE April 2022: Big news! Australia finally ratifies the Forced Labour Protocol. We handed in 100,000+ Freedom United petition signatures to Australia’s UN Ambassador Mitch Fifield and sent our petition to the Western Australian parliament. They have responded to our collective voice! Now the Forced Labour Protocol is signed, we look forward to the benefits of stronger protections.   Western Australian Minister for Industrial Relations Bill Johnston, received a petition calling on the Western Australian Parliament to pass the changes in the Industrial Relations Legislation

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