The German group Volkswagen (VW) has not yet identified any human rights violations. However, “risks and specific suspected cases have been identified” across the supply chain, the company announced on Friday.
This includes suppliers. There is still “potential for improvement,” the company’s human rights officer Kerstin Waltenberg said on Friday. The first annual report was presented on this day. The German supply chain law came into effect at the beginning of this year. Accordingly, companies with more than 3,000 employees have a duty to ensure that human rights are respected throughout their production. This must be reported annually.
Goals go beyond minimum requirements
“Our goal is to initially implement the law as best as possible this year,” Waltenberg said. Next year we want to go further than the legal minimum requirements. However, according to information from VW, the Urumqui plant in China’s Xinjiang province is not covered by the law because it is not operated by VW itself, but through a joint venture with Chinese manufacturer Saic. “It is still not the case that we ignore the work because of this. We will look there,” Waltenberg promised.
CEO Oliver Blume announced in the summer that an independent audit would take place there at the end of this year. The site opened in 2013 and received international criticism for possible human rights abuses in the province.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
