Friday 29 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 10): Sime Darby Plantation Bhd (SDP) has appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and an independent international NGO specialising in migrant worker rights to further strengthen its human rights commitments and compliance.

In April 2020, Liberty Shared (LS) submitted a petition to the US Customs and Border Protection with an allegation that SDP uses forced and child labour to produce palm oil and related products.

SDP said in a statement today that it had sought more details and information on the allegations.

“We appointed PwC on Oct 19, 2020 to support our efforts to establish effective platforms and channels of communication to address any concerns or issues surrounding our operations in Malaysia,” it said.

SDP said it is committed to swiftly take any and all corrective measures required if there is proof of any wrongdoing or breach of its policies and procedures.

“We will also work with independent external experts to design the necessary intervention programmes to enhance compliance with its existing human rights commitments,” added SDP.

The plantation group said it hopes to continue working with LS to develop and implement programmes that will enhance the rights of its workers on the ground more effectively.

“We have been working on improving our migrant worker recruitment processes since 2015 and implemented several measures that have served to progressively enhance the rights and circumstances of our foreign workforce,” it added.

SDP said it has been unable to recruit new migrant workers due to Covid-19 restrictions that have been in place in Malaysia since the first quarter of 2020.

On Oct 1, the plantation group appointed an international NGO specialist on migrant worker rights to assist with its current recruitment processes, especially in migrant worker source countries and identify areas for improvement.

“It will also help us to develop better recruitment processes that can be deployed once we are able to resume recruitment, while proposing other corrective measures that can be implemented to further strengthen recruitment procedures to enhance our migrant workers’ rights.

“We will announce further progress updates on these new collaborations and other measures in due course,” SDP said.

At 3.11pm, SDP’s share price fell two sen or 0.39% to RM5.12, giving it a market capitalisation of RM34.97 billion.

Edited ByLam Jian Wyn
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