Supplier’s reporting obligation

According to estimates from the World Health Organization and the ILO, 2 million people die annually from work-related causes. Diseases account for 81% of cases and injuries for 19%.

The biggest risk factors are long working hours, followed by exposure to particles, gases and fumes, and occupational accidents. These risk factors leads to lung diseases, stroke, heart disease and cancer, among other things.

When assessing working conditions that pose a danger to life, you therefore need to consider both the risks associated with prolonged exposure to substances that are hazardous to health – such as chemicals, particles, gases and fumes – and the risk of occupational injuries. In both cases, access to protective equipment is fundamental.

Environmental and human rights defenders are on the front lines of protecting our rights and our planet. They include indigenous peoples, trade union leaders, land and environmental defenders, anti-corruption activists, journalists and others who expose corporate irresponsible business practices and fight for human rights.

The most common form of attack is judicial harassment, such as arbitrary detentions and subpoenas. But defenders are also subject to threats and death threats, assaults, violence, disappearances and murders. In 2023, the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre documented 87 murders of human rights defenders working against corporate abuses.

The Business & Human Rights Resource Centre runs a database with information on attacks on human rights defenders around the world. In it you can, among other things, search for attacks by country.

Business & Human Rights Resource Center – Civic Freedoms & HRD Data

Another source is the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, which is run by the International Federation for Human Rights and the World Organisation Against Torture.

Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders

In 2024, an investigation by the BBC and Australian company Source Certain revealed that several Italian tomato products labelled “Made in Italy” contained tomatoes from Xinjiang, China. The region has been the subject of international criticism for human rights abuses, including the use of forced labour linked to the Muslim Uyghur minority.

The investigation found that Italian company Antonio Petti received over 36 million kilograms of tomato paste from Xinjiang between 2020 and 2023. Despite being labeled as Italian, some of Antonio’s Petti tomato sauces contained tomatoes from China, raising concerns about transparency and ethical sourcing. The Petti brand has expanded significantly and is now present in several European markets, including Germany, France, Norway, Denmark, Sweden and the UK.

In 2015, a study by Swedwatch – following up on several years of work on the same topic – noted some improvements in Pakistan’s surgical instruments sector. However, children as young as 10 could still be found working, performing tasks such as grinding, polishing and assembling surgical tools. This was also confirmed by the Ethical Trading Initiative a few years later.

The work involves exposing the children to harmful substances such as chromium and nickel, which leads to serious health risks. Children working in these environments also show significantly higher levels of these metals in their urine compared to children who do not work, which indicates a significant work-related exposure. The surgical instruments are exported globally – including to Sweden.

In August 2015, a male worker committed suicide at a Foxconn factory in Zhengzhou, a major supplier to Apple, by jumping from a building. The incident followed reports in 2013 that three workers at the same facility had taken their own lives within a 20-day period. Investigations showed that these tragedies were linked to extremely stressful working conditions, including extreme overtime, harsh production requirements, and a “silent work” policy that discouraged communication between colleagues. These factors contributed to severe mental and emotional stress among employees.

The Patancheru and Bollaram industrial areas, near Hyderabad in India, are important centres for pharmaceutical manufacturing. Since the 1970s, these areas have suffered extensive environmental degradation due to the discharge of untreated or inadequately treated wastewater from a large number of pharmaceutical factories. The pollution has led to severe contamination of local waterways, including the Nakkavagu River, and groundwater, rendering these water sources unfit for consumption and agriculture. Despite decades of legal action, remediation has been inadequate, and the affected communities continue to suffer from health risks and lost livelihoods.

In December 2020, the UK Home Office published a report on Malaysia’s production of disposable gloves. The report concluded that “corruption is endemic in the recruitment systems of Malaysia and migrant worker source countries, and touches every part of the recruitment supply chain.”

This systematic corruption has led to widespread exploitation of migrant workers, including debt bondage and forced labour. As suppliers to the UK NHS and the Swedish Regions often source from the same factories, it is highly likely that these corrupt practices also affect the Swedish supply chains for disposable medical gloves.

In 2013, a British human rights activist faced multiple civil and criminal charges in Thailand after contributing to a Finnwatch report that revealed suspected violations of workers’ rights at the Natural Fruit Company factory.

The report documented the prevalence of child labour, underpayment, and dangerous working conditions. The legal action against the activist was widely perceived as an attempt to silence human rights defenders and discourage them from exposing abuses in global supply chains.