The New York City comptroller, Brad Lander, emphasized the need for major sugar buyers to cease profiting from child labor, debt bondage, and coerced hysterectomies in India. His office, managing nearly $1 billion in investments, is applying pressure on firms like Coca-Cola and Pepsico that source sugar from Maharashtra, where an investigation revealed a brutal labor system often enforced through kidnapping and assault.
Lander has been collaborating with Indian labor leaders, investors, and unions to push for supply-chain improvements among sugar buyers, leveraging his office’s significant financial stakes. He has engaged institutional investors to join the movement, signifying a broader awareness and responsibility to address human rights abuses in agricultural supply chains, reflecting a growing trend of social accountability in investment practices.
The Biden administration has also stepped in, pressuring American companies to utilize their market influence to effect change in Indian sugar mills. Diplomats have urged these companies to collaborate with labor unions to address the deplorable working conditions that sugar cane harvesters are subjected to in Maharashtra, aligning government and corporate efforts to combat systemic labor rights violations.
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