DiscoveryLabour rights and Paraguayan beef exports
In addition to concerns about deforestation, the cattle industry in the Chaco region of Paraguay has been linked to reports, including by the UN Human Rights Council, of slave labour, child labour and encroachment into indigenous land.
In addition to concerns about deforestation, the cattle industry in the Chaco region of Paraguay has been linked to reports, including by the UN Human Rights Council, of slave labour, child labour and encroachment into indigenous land. None of the five top exporter groups in 2018 has made any public commitment to eliminate forced labour and child labour from their supply chains[1], and given that four out of five of these companies have slaughterhouses or headquarters in or close to the area, it is almost certain that they source beef from the Chaco.
Notes
- The Environmental and Social Action Plan for a loan secured by Minerva from the International Finance Corporation in 2013 for expansion in Paraguay and other countries includes a provision that "Minerva will incorporate labor/child labor issues in the supply chain management system, once an official workable basis is publicly available". This is not outlined on Minerva’s website.
Glossary
- Gran Chaco
- A diverse biome that includes dry forests, savannahs, grasslands and wetlands. It covers 6.5 million km2, extending into eastern Bolivia, western Paraguay, northern Argentina and southwestern Brazil. Large areas of the Gran Chaco have been cleared for croplands and grazing lands in the last 30 years. For how we calculate deforestation in the Paraguayan Chaco see also Dry Chaco and Humid Chaco.
