Exactly one year ago, organisations from Latin America and Germany submitted a complaint against Bayer AG to the OECD. Despite several exchanges with the authorities, a decision is still pending. Those affected by serious human rights violations and severe environmental damage in connection with Bayer's soya seed and pesticide business in South America are still waiting for a response.
The complaint was filed in April 2024 by an alliance of six civil society organisations from Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia and Germany, including Misereor and the European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), and raises serious allegations: the company's pesticide and soy business is allegedly linked to systematic human rights violations and devastating environmental damage in the four countries. The focus is on Bayer's role in South America, where the company is promoting a controversial industrialised agricultural model.
Human rights violations and environmental damage continue
"Our concern is for those affected, who continue to suffer serious damage to their health, food insecurity and the poisoning of their water sources. A procedure that is supposed to result in a decision on admissibility after three months has now been going on for a year. In the meantime, the living situation for many families remains threatening," explains Sarah Schneider, expert for agriculture and global nutrition at Misereor.
"When the tractors spray the fields with toxic pesticides, the children have to be brought indoors quickly. People cover their faces when the spray mist blows into the village so as not to inhale it," reports Vilma Vera Rios from the indigenous Avá-Guaraní people. They live in the state of Paraná, the second largest producer of soya in Brazil. Bayer AG's business practices are also linked to extreme deforestation, loss of biodiversity and bitter land conflicts with indigenous and farming communities. More than 50 per cent of the agricultural land in the four countries is cultivated with genetically modified soya seeds, with Bayer AG being a leader in the marketing of glyphosate-resistant soya seeds and corresponding pesticides.
Complaining organisations hope for mediation with Bayer
The complaint calls into question Bayer's compliance with the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. The OECD Guidelines clearly set out due diligence obligations for the downstream value chain, especially in cases where the negative consequences of product use are 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. Mediation by the German OECD Contact Point should therefore no longer be delayed," said Silvia Rojas-Castro, Senior Legal Advisor at ECCHR.
The complaint was filed by the organisations Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales (CELS), Terra de Direitos, BASE-IS, Fundación TIERRA, as well as Misereor and ECCHR.
