10 Human Rights Priorities for the Food, Beverage, and Agriculture Sector

Child labor refers to children who work long hours, miss school to participate in work, or work under dangerous conditions. Child labor is illegal under international law, yet, global estimates indicate 160 million children were engaged in child labor in 2020.³ Most child labor (around 70 percent) occurs in agriculture, which means that much of the world’s food may be sourced from farming, fishing, or husbandry that leverages child labor. It is estimated that 20 percent of children in coffee-growing countries engage in child labor.⁴ In the Ivory Coast and Ghana, which together supply 70 percent of the world’s cocoa, it is estimated that 1.56 million children work in cocoa harvesting.⁵ Companies in these sectors risk human rights violations, as well as reputational and operational risks.

Around 40.3 million people were victims of modern slavery in 2016.⁶ This includes instances of human trafficking, sexual exploitation, and forced labor. In the FBA sector, forced labor is prevalent, spanning from agriculture and fishing, to shipping and transportation. The seafood industry is particularly susceptible to modern slavery conditions due to the remote nature of the work. Vessels spend an extended time isolated at sea, which can prevent workers from escape or reporting labor abuses.⁷ In agriculture, allegations of forced labor in Malaysia’s palm oil industry and in China’s Xinjiang province have mounted in recent years. In response, the US has barred the import of certain palm oil products linked to Malaysia as well as tomatoes sourced from Xinjiang.

The FBA sector is underpinned by high-risk industries for worker health and safety. Agriculture, for example, is one of the most hazardous forms of employment in terms of workplace ill-health, injuries, and fatalities.⁸ Agricultural workers may be exposed to poisons, pesticides, and other agrochemicals. They may also experience extreme weather conditions or suffer injuries related to agricultural machinery. The International Labour Organization notes that the most vulnerable groups with poor working conditions in agriculture are day laborers, seasonal or migrant workers, and child workers on family farms.

From the corporate C-suite to small-scale farms, historically marginalized groups often face barriers to equality and inclusion in the FBA sector. Human rights risks to gender equality, non-discrimination, equity, and inclusion in the workplace are prevalent across the sector. In agriculture, systemic inequalities in land ownership and access to resources are a particular barrier to diversity and inclusion. For example, in the US, 95 percent of rural land is owned by white farmers, and only 1.3 percent of all farmers are African American.⁹ Globally, women play a significant role in the agricultural sector, yet women farmers also lack equal access to land, financing, and training, which are critical to business success and equality.¹⁰

International human rights law protects the rights of workers to form and join trade unions, which are critical avenues for labor rights protections. However, both in high- and low-risk countries, independent unions are not only rare but can be outwardly discouraged, persecuted, or considered illegal. Employers should refrain from restricting the ability of workers to voice their concerns and ensure that workers have access to effective means of collective bargaining, whether through a union, works council, or employee association.

The COVID-19 pandemic has strained already stressed supply chains across the FBA sector. In some locations, this has spurred a rise in efforts to protect workers against poor working conditions and low wages, prompting a backlash by employers. In countries where unions are prohibited or restricted, such efforts were met with harsh measures by governments, including, in most extreme cases, physical punishment or death of union activists.

Demand for food is on the rise just as environmental changes are threatening food production. This, in turn, increases demand for the land needed to house more livestock and grow more crops. If not carefully managed, land acquisition can amount to land grabbing—a term which refers to when a government or company purchases large amounts of land without consulting local populations, providing adequate compensation to previous land users, and helping those displaced find new economic opportunities.¹¹ Land grabs impact the rights of local communities, including the right to cultural and economic activity. They can also lead to involuntary and physical displacement and relocation of people, which means a loss of land, homes, and security.¹² Despite the human rights risks associated with land acquisition, the issue is prolific: for example, foreign investors are said to own 35 million hectares of land in Africa¹³ and 35.2 million acres in the US.¹⁴

Companies connected to or directly negotiating new land deals can prioritize the rights of local and Indigenous populations. They can achieve free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC) of Indigenous communities whenever they may be impacted by land deals, including up or downstream changes in land use and access. Ongoing and interactive assessments can help to proactively identify new or emerging risks to human rights, including risks to local water or food security. Additionally, corporate efforts to reduce food waste and improve global food systems can help reduce the need for additional land for food production.

The FBA sector relies on heavy land use, which can pose significant risks to the rights of local communities, including the right to life, food security, land and resources, and economic activity. Shifts in consumer behaviors, expanding land use for agriculture, and the environmental impacts of farming can strain local resources and impact the health and well-being of communities. A key challenge for many communities is access to food and long-term food security. For example, when quinoa became a new trend in Western countries, demand for the grain surged, and local Andean people in Bolivia and Peru found that they could no longer afford quinoa, which is a staple of their diets.¹⁵ Similarly, land acquisition for agricultural expansion in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa has been found to threaten local food security as food is redirected away from communities and toward the export market.

International labor standards protect the rights of all workers to fair working hours, compensation, and a living wage that enables workers and their families to meet their basic needs, such as food, healthcare, and housing. However, industries across the FBA sector often face criticism for poor wages and benefits, particularly as this industry is largely driven by migrant labor in many parts of the world. According to the OECD, nearly 94 percent of agriculture workers are informally employed, which means that an overwhelming number of workers connected to the FBA sector may be at risk of income insecurity and poor working conditions.¹⁶ Additionally, much of the informal economy is made up of women and young workers, who face additional systemic barriers to equality.¹⁷

Not all human rights risks in the FBA sector occur within the supply chain. Increasingly, the human right to health and well-being is applied to consider the risk implications of unhealthy products, such as sugary snacks, tobacco products, or highly processed foods. Furthermore, how companies market such products, which can target lower-income communities, minorities, and children, raises concerns about the disproportionate impacts of these health risks on marginalized and vulnerable populations. Understanding the long-term health and wellness implications of these types of products on communities, particularly as they create a shift away from more traditional dietary practices, must be understood and assessed to mitigate the potential human rights impacts associated with such goods.

Access to remedy is a core element of the UNGPs and a fundamental right under international law. The lack of an effective remedy for individuals and communities who suffer human rights abuses directly or indirectly related to company actions is concern. The food, beverage, and agriculture sector can impact the whole spectrum of human rights as we have seen above—therefore, the assessment and remedy of any negative impacts are critical. All companies can have clear operational grievance mechanisms to help identify negative impacts, provide remedy, and cooperate in government-led initiatives or other third-party mechanisms. These mechanisms should be accessible and open to employees, third-party workers, and communities—and therefore adapted to local circumstances where a global hotline would, for example, not be fit for this purpose. This is critical in reaching those workers at the tail end of the supply chain—at the farm, fishery, or harvest level, where the most critical human rights risks occur.