Despite a weakening of conflict minerals due diligence requirements in the U.S., legislation continues to advance in other countries. Leading brands are committed to working towards eliminating minerals and metals linked to conflict, criminality, environmental degradation, and human trafficking and other labor abuses from their supply chains.
Verité’s work is featured in a recent in-depth exposé of labor abuses in the palm oil industry in Bloomberg Businessweek. Journalist E. Benjamin Skinner, a senior fellow at the Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism of Brandeis University, brings to light the widespread abuses of basic human rights that take place on some plantations in Southeast Asia. Daryll Delgado, Manager of Research and Stakeholder Engagement at Verité Southeast Asia (VSEA), answers questions about our experience in the palm oil supply chain, and recommendations for companies on how best to detect risks of forced labor and human trafficking.