In the run-up to the shareholders' meeting of the German agrochemical company Bayer, an alliance of six civil society organisations from Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia and Germany is holding the company accountable for the serious impacts of industrial agriculture in South America. Based on extensive research and numerous interviews with those affected, the organisations are submitting an OECD complaint against Bayer AG.
The allegation: Bayer is in breach of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. The company promotes an agricultural model in South America that leads to food insecurity, water scarcity, extreme deforestation, loss of biodiversity, serious health impacts and land conflicts with indigenous and farming communities. "The company has failed to adequately respond to the serious human rights and environmental risks directly linked to its business model in the region. The impacts of the use of genetically modified seeds and pesticides have not been monitored, nor have effective measures been taken to prevent and mitigate them," says Sarah Schneider, expert on agriculture and global food security at Misereor.
More than 50 per cent of agricultural land in Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia and Paraguay is cultivated with genetically modified soya seed. Bayer AG is a leader in the marketing of glyphosate-resistant soya seed and the corresponding pesticides. Abel Areco, Head of BASE-IS: "In the complaint, we show that people in our region are suffering from poisoning and serious diseases due to the ongoing soya cultivation; local water sources are so polluted that they can no longer be used; indigenous people and farming communities are being deprived of their land, which affects their way of life and diet; thousands of hectares of forest are disappearing, threatening local flora and fauna."
The OECD complaint documents four specific cases that show the negative effects of this agricultural model in areas where the company markets its products on a large scale. As part of the complaint, the Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales (Argentina), Terra de Direitos (Brazil), BASE-IS (Paraguay), Fundación TIERRA (Bolivia), Misereor and ECCHR are calling on Bayer AG to change its business practices in a sustainable way that respects the rights of local communities and the environment. "The OECD Guidelines clearly set out due diligence obligations for the downstream value chain, especially in cases where the misuse of a product is foreseeable. Although the current version of the German Supply Chain Act does not cover this part of the supply chain, Bayer must comply with the OECD Guidelines. We call for Bayer to develop due diligence obligations for genetically modified soya and glyphosate-based pesticides that are risk-based and take into account the context in Latin America in order to contribute to long-term solutions," says Silvia Rojas Castro, Legal Advisor at ECCHR.
The OECD National Contact Point now has three months to decide on the admissibility of the complaint and thereby support mediation between the affected parties and the company. The organisations expect Bayer to respond to the complaint and actively participate in resolving the problems.
Further information:
The OECD complaint can be found here
To the brochure "Dangerous pesticides"
