Report
References to occupational exposures
and health through cooperation with other governments, to which he attaches great importance
given the transnational production and disposal chains of Danish businesses. Among other
activities, a 2016 project in Bangladesh established an expert group on Occupational Safety and
Health (OSH Unit), in the Department for Inspection of Factories and Establishments (DIFE) of
the Government of Bangladesh. The Special Rapporteur welcomes this cooperation and.
However, the Special Rapporteur was disappointed to note that cooperation efforts on the
protection of workers did not include support to the shipbreaking industry in Bangladesh or
elsewhere, despite the substantial impacts of Danish businesses in this sector on the rights of
foreign workers. The Special Rapporteur encourages further efforts to ensure all Danish
businesses ensure all workers are protected from exposure to toxic substances in their supply
chains, among other concerns for workers’ rights.
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12
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those most at risk
•
Opaque supply
chains and the
transfer of
hazardous work
•
Failures to realize
the right to
information
The Special Rapporteur was disturbed by the lack of attention to the continued exportation of
hazardous pesticides banned by Denmark to countries that have lower levels of protection against
the adverse impacts of such pesticides on the human right to health, among others. In some cases,
products produced with such banned pesticides and other toxic chemicals can be imported back
into Denmark.
•
Limited progress in
prevention of
exposure
•
Exploitation of
those most at risk
The Danish company Cheminova is one of the main producers of one such pesticide, Malathion,
an insecticide to be used against chewing and sucking insect pests in crops. Evidence is publicly
available on the serious risks posed by Malathion to the environment, especially water sources
and biodiversity and to human health. 9 An analysis conducted in 2016 by the World Health
Organization International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) 10 concluded that Malathion is
probably carcinogenic to humans while identifying strong evidence that exposure to malathionbased pesticides is genotoxic. For these reasons Malathion is not commercialized in the EU,
including Denmark. Yet, only in 2017, Cheminova A/S, a multinational pesticide producer based
in Denmark exported Malathion to over 40 countries outside the EU. 11 In 2015, the Special
Rapporteur expressed his concerns on the extreme impacts on the rights to food and water, and
livelihoods of communities in Guatemala, when 500 to 1000 kg of fish were killed in Peten River,
Guatemala, reportedly due to the heavy contamination of local waters by Malathion. 12 The
practices of Cheminova in countries with weaker normative frameworks have been criticized in
the past.13
•
Opaque supply
chains and the
transfer of
hazardous work
http://www.pesticideinfo.org/Detail_Chemical.jsp?Rec_Id=PC32924.
https://monographs.iarc.fr/ENG/Monographs/vol112/mono112-07.pdf.
See Export Notifications, European Chemical Agency.
See GTM 4/2015.
Pesticide export to institutionally vulnerable countries, who is responsible? An assessment of the practices and strategies of a Danish company in Brazil.
57
A/HRC/39/48
10
Challenges faced by workers
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