Investigations

Avocado production in Chile is draining water resources to such a degree that local residents now lack water. In the area where most of Chile’s avocados are grown, a battle is being waged over water rights. At least one supermarket chain has indicated it will change its purchasing policy for avocados from this area.

Europe’s five largest pension funds have combined investments of €7.5 billion in companies with business activities in and around illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. This is at odds with United Nations guidelines, clear warnings from 18 European countries, and undermines the two-state solution, experts warn. Danwatch visited the West Bank including East Jerusalem.

Madagascar’s vanilla farmers struggle with serious problems of theft, debt spirals and child labour. A new Danwatch investigation reveals that businesses that sell vanilla in Danish supermarkets don’t know for sure whether or not they are selling stolen goods or vanilla grown using illegal child labour.

Maersk pressured a German shipowner to send fourteen ships to extremely hazardous shipyards in Bangladesh and India while the company boasted of being a leader in sustainability, according to confidential documents brought to light by Danwatch. Maersk admits to Danwatch that it should not have made the deal.

Danwatch is once again able to document that another Maersk ship is being scrapped at a dangerous shipyards, this time in Bangladesh, where conditions are much worse than in India. Torch cutters work in bare feet and without protection from dangerous gasses. Maersk denies responsibility, but admits to Danwatch that it has failed.

A new Danwatch investigation of Guatemala’s coffee industry reveals serious problems with illegal child labour and signs of forced labour such as armed guards, debt spirals, and confiscation of ID papers. Pricey, high-quality coffee is apparently no guarantee against violations.

Danwatch har besøgt Brasiliens største kaffeproducerende stat, Minas Gerais, hvor halvdelen af Brasiliens kaffe bliver dyrket. Vi har besøgt kaffeplantager, interviewet kaffearbejdere, fagforeninger, eksperter og lokale myndigheder.

Danwatch har været med politiet og det brasilianske beskæftigelsesministerium på inspektion på en brasiliansk kaffeplantage, hvor 17 mænd, kvinder og børn, som var ofre for menneskehandel, blev befriet fra slavelignende forhold. To børn på henholdsvis 14 og 15 år havde arbejdet med at plukke kaffe på plantagen.

Higher education institutions in Western Europe have spent 4.27 billion euros so far in 2015 on ICT hardware, software and services to secure quality education for millions of young Europeans. At the other end of the supply chain tens of thousands of Chinese students work as interns in the assembly lines of IT factories every summer producing for the world’s biggest brands. Many of them are forced into internships and cannot quit or they will not graduate.

Serious exploitation and illegal immigrants behind canned tomatoes

Working Conditions behind Rubber Products

The EU is stealing tuna from Africa