A/HRC/43/44 New developments 27. Efforts to change the status quo are under way at the international level, as a draft legally binding agreement on business activities and human rights is currently under negotiation.18 It is intended to prevent violations and abuses, ensure access to justice and remedies for victims, and promote and strengthen international cooperation. More than 400 civil society organizations support this initiative, but the developed countries have so far declined to do so. The European Union recently engaged more positively in response to pressure from civil society.19 28. Generally, States have been slow to adopt appropriate legal protections for workers. A recent wave of litigation focused on glyphosate, the active ingredient in the popular Roundup weed killer, finally catalysed State-implemented protection in the form of bans, restrictions and even monetary compensation for harm caused.20 Nearly 20 countries have adopted or announced future safeguards since the International Agency for Research on Cancer reported that the chemical was “probably carcinogenic” in 2015. 21 Despite this, glyphosate bans continue to be globally controversial.22 29. FAO recently conducted a legislative study to identify problems in the agriculture, forestry and fisheries sectors and to offer guidance to States on applicable standards. 23 However, violations remain particularly severe: reports have exposed illegal wage deductions on Sri Lankan tea estates that had been certified as slavery-free by Rainforest Alliance and Fairtrade;24 human rights violations on plantations certified as sustainable by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil;25 and slave labour, trafficking, and human rights abuses that continue throughout the fisheries industry as well (A/HRC/40/56). “Supermarketization” of food and rising rates of malnutrition E. 30. All forms of malnutrition continue to threaten the lives and livelihoods of populations around the world. Children remain the most vulnerable to malnutrition, as their right to food remains unrealized, despite added protections set forth in the Convention on the Rights of the Child and in national legal frameworks. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), malnutrition is the underlying contributing factor in approximately 45 per cent of all child deaths (A/71/282, para. 13). 31. As State policies promote commodity foods for export, local markets are flooded by subsidized, processed foods that contribute to the explosion of non-communicable diseases and malnutrition. Countries that embrace market deregulation experience a faster increase in unhealthy food consumption (A/71/282, para. 29), as unhealthy foods are more readily 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 8 See open-ended intergovernmental working group on transnational corporations and other business enterprises with respect to human rights, “Revised draft of a legally binding instrument to regulate, in international human rights law, the activities of transnational corporations and other business enterprises” (16 July 2019). Lúcia Ortiz and Anne van Schaik, “Why does the European Union fear a binding human rights treaty on transnational corporations?”, Friends of the Earth International (11 July 2018). See Reuters, “Bayer expects significant surge in number of U.S. glyphosate cases” (16 October 2019). See Sustainable Pulse, “Glyphosate herbicides now banned or restricted in 20 countries worldwide” (28 May 2019); and The Guardian, “Germany to ban use of glyphosate weedkiller by end of 2023” (4 September 2019). Glyphosate is not currently banned in the European Union or by the United States Environmental Protection Agency and Roundup and other glyphosate-based herbicides are available throughout the United States. See Sisay Yeshanew, Regulating Labour and Safety Standards in the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Sectors (Rome, FAO, 2018). See Lisa Fuller, “Exclusive: tea label giants vow probe after Sri Lanka labor abuse exposé”, Reuters (27 March 2019). See Rainforest Action Network, “Palm oil giant Indofood sanctioned over labor rights violations” (5 Nov. 2018).