June 26th, 2011- Amsterdam. A group of Argentinean and Dutch NGOs (CEDHA, INCASUR, SOMO and Oxfam Novib) has filed an OECD Guidelines complaint against NIDERA, a Dutch corn seed processing company. The complaint, filed before the Dutch National Contact Point in Amsterdam, is based on various reports and investigations carried out by official Argentinean institutions as well as media reports that accused NIDERA´s Argentine subsidiary of having hired temporary workers for detasseling corn under conditions that did not meet the labor and human rights standards internationally recognized and enforced in the Republic of Argentina for the protection of these temporary workers.
The complainants call on NIDERA to develop and implement an effective human rights policy commitment that includes concrete human rights due diligence procedures, particularly with regards to the hiring and treatment of temporary workers in developing countries for the detasseling corn activity.
The complainants are convinced that the leadership in fostering human rights policy and embracing human rights due diligence procedures that NIDERA can implement, would show the company’s will to demonstrate its compliance with these mentioned standards.
CEDHA