The Netherlands on Friday said the child labour practice, which a PREMIUM TIMES’ investigation revealed in the Nigerian supply chain of Dutch multinational, FrieslandCampina, is being taken “seriously” and already a subject on the agenda of the European country’s food industry.
The Dutch government’s response to the investigation by PREMIUM TIMES came two days after the company, FrieslandCampina, disclosed the engagement of UK-registered Partner Africa for a social audit of its Dairy Development Programme through which it collects raw milk from farms in Nigeria.
However, the Nigerian government has remained silent days after the publication of our investigation, which spotlighted the endorsement of the Dutch company’s local milk sourcing programme by Nigeria’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Both Nigeria’s agriculture ministry and Oyo State, where FrieslandCampina sources raw milk, declined to comment when contacted during our reporting and the silence continues following the publication of the investigation on Tuesday.
Nothing has come of repeated attempts to obtain reactions from Wasiu Olatunbosun, spokesperson for Oyo State, and Ezeaja Ikemefuna, the spokesperson for the federal agriculture ministry.
Also, on Friday, Nigeria’s labour minister, Chris Ngige did not answer calls placed to his phone, nor did he reply a text message requesting him to comment on our report.
In a developing country like Nigeria where state authorities are barely effective in delivering their own responsibilities and holding multinationals to be socially responsible, children are particularly vulnerable to abuses.
However, the UNGPs for Business and Human Rights say that “The responsibility to respect human rights is a global standard of expected conduct for all business enterprises wherever they operate. It exists independently of States’ abilities and/or willingness to fulfil their own human rights obligations and does not diminish those obligations.”
In a statement on Friday, Thierry van Helden, a senior official for the Dutch foreign affairs ministry, said the child labour which PREMIUM TIMES’ reported in the Nigerian supply chain of FrieslandCampina, is taken “seriously”.
“We are currently engaged in a dialogue with FrieslandCampina regarding this case,” said Mr Helden, who is the Dutch coordinator of the Public Private Partnerships and Inclusive Business. “We have also put this on the agenda of the steering group of the Dutch RBC (Responsible Business Conducts) Agreement for the Food Products Sector. Friesland Campina is part of this agreement through their Dutch industry association FNLI.”
The FNLI is the federation of food sector companies in the Netherlands.
Mr Helden said the government expects, “Dutch companies to conduct business in accordance with the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.”
“In line with the OECD Guidelines,” the official continued, “companies have the primary responsibility to conduct due diligence. This means amongst others they have to adopt RBC-policies, identify possible risks in their value chains and prevent or mitigate these risks.”
The PREMIUM TIMES’ investigation exposed how child labour routinely boosts the FrieslandCampina’s production and perhaps profits in Nigeria as the Dutch multinational fails to implement necessary due diligence that would have helped check the adverse human rights issue in its supply chain.
The children, like Yusufa Isah, six, Tijani Abubakar, 13 and Yunusa Sanusi, 10, usually sleep in hovels on isolated farms, bare of any infrastructure and water and sanitation facility. They are not receiving an education.
Read Original Report Here By Premium Times
