Seed multinationals Monsanto, Emergent Genetics, Hindustan Lever, Syngenta, Advanta and Proagro (a subsidiary of Bayer) as well as some big Indian seed companies, have agreed to co-operate with the MV Foundation in Andhra Pradesh - Magsaysay award winner Dr Shantha Sinha is the group's general secretary - to eliminate child labour from the cotton seed industry. The companies will come up with a concrete proposal shortly.
• MV Foundation
• ICN: Background information
• Earlier: Childhood, cropped
• Update: Promises not kept
This was the outcome of a meeting between the companies and the MV
Foundation (MVF) in September in Hyberabad. The outcome is a real breakthrough in
view of the ongoing debate on the issue. The companies who were present are all
members of the Association of Seed Industry (ASI). The annual assembly of ASI also
passed a resolution on September 13th to pro-actively discourage directly and
through its members the practice of child labour in hybrid cotton seed production and
further take effective steps along with other stakeholders towards eradication of
this evil from the hybrid cotton seed industry.
These developments took place four to five months after the publication of a report on child labour in hybrid cotton seed production by the India Committee of the Netherlands (ICN). It was revealed that almost 250,000 children under fourteen years of age, mainly girls, work on hybrid cotton farms in Andhra Pradesh for long hours under hazardous conditions.
Dr. Shantha Sinha , secretary of the MV Foundation and chairperson of the meeting, wrote to ICN: "all companies recognised that children are being employed in the farms to which they have sub-contracted seed production. They also recognise that it is part of their corporate social responsibility to correct the situation". She told Global Ethics Monitor :"all of them agreed for the first time they were responsible, which was a very big gain.
Swiss seed multinational Syngenta, after having met MVF in June 2003, had agreed to contact other seed majors to set up a joint monitoring effort in collaboration with the MV Foundation. Paswan Malik, head of Syngenta Seeds India, said that the formation of the group in September was an admission on behalf of the companies that they had responsibility for the actions of their contractors.
Read November 2004 update to this article
Also Ranjana Smetaceck, spokeswoman of Monsanto India, stated while referring to the joint meeting: "We consider this our responsibility, as everyone else would around the table". Sheadded that it is a pretty realistic target to eradicate child labour from the Indian hybrid cotton seed production in the coming six months. However, President Hugh Grant of Monsanto writes in a letter of September 18 2003 to the Washington-based International Labour Rights Fund that, being a minority owner of the Indian company Mahyco, they 'encourage Mahyco to discourage inappropriate child labour practices'. No reference is made to Monsanto's participation in the meeting in Hyderabad.
Unilever and Hindustan Lever Limited (HLL) - its Indian subsidiary that markets several popular brand-name products, e.g. Close-Up, Surf, and Lipton - have rejected the accusation of using child labour in hybrid cotton seed production. Unilever stated that it made sure that its suppliers complied with the agreement not to use child labour. Both HLL and Paras (in which HLL now has a 26% share) were present in Hyderabad.
It was agreed in the meeting on 7th of September that the Association of Seed Industry would set up a Child Labour Eradication Group, including a representative from every company, that will conduct internal monitoring. This group will also co-operate with MV Foundation and others to design a collaborative work plan and facilitate external monitoring.
According to Dr. Sinha's communication to ICN, this would include giving lists of farmers contracted by companies to MVF and monitoring of child labour through their local Child Rights Protection Committees. In addition training programmes, exposure visits and public meetings are envisaged. The MV Foundation also has a long and successful experience in mobilising communities against child labour and preparing working children to enter full-time formal education. During the last twelve years around 250,000 children have thus been withdrawn from work and entered into schools. MVF's view that no child should work and every child should be in full-time education has also become the policy of the government Andhra Pradesh.
In March 2004 there will be a new meeting of companies and MV Foundation together to take stock of the progress made. The India Committee of the Netherlands, Amnesty International Netherlands, Novib/Oxfam Netherlands and FNV Mondiaal will continue to monitor the results of the agreement reached with the MV Foundation and the resolution of the Association of Seed Industry.
