APÉNDICE D:  MODELO DE CARTA ENVIADA A OTRAS COMPAÑÍA MULTINACIONALES

 

March 22, 2004

 

Dear Sir or Madam:

 

Human Rights Watch is preparing a report on child labor in El Salvador , with a specific focus on the use of child labor in sugar cultivation.  Human Rights Watch is an independent, nongovernmental organization that since 1978 has conducted investigations of human rights abuses throughout the world.

 

We welcome any information on the issues specifically raised below and any additional information you wish to provide on this matter.  In the interest of balanced and fair reporting, we strive to reflect all perspectives in our research and look forward to your response.

 

We have attached questions regarding your company’s contractual relationship with a sugar mill in El Salvador and questions regarding your company ’s general labor policies with regard to Salvadoran suppliers of the commodities it purchases.  Your response will be taken into account in our forthcoming report.  In light of our publishing schedule, we would be grateful to receive your response within one month’s time.

 

Thank you very much.  I look forward to hearing from you.

 

Sincerely,

 

 

Michael Bochenek

Counsel

Children’s Rights Division

To:       

From:  Human Rights Watch

Date:    March 22 , 2004

Subject:  Sugar mills in El Salvador supplying your company

 

A.  Your Company and Contractual Relationships

Human Rights Watch has received information that in 2000, your company purchased sugar and/or m olasses from Compañía Azucarera Salvadoreña, S.A. de C.V.  We would be grateful if you would confirm this information and indicate the months and years during which purchases were made.  We also request that you specify in each case whether purchases were made directly from Compañía Azucarera Salvadoreña or through an intermediary enterprise and, if the latter, that you identify the intermediary.

 

B.  Your Company’s Labor Practices

We would appreciate information about the policies your company has adopted regarding respect for workers’ human rights by the suppliers from which it purchases sugar and/or molasses and other commodities and by the mills and plantations where those commodities are produced.

 

Specifically, we would welcome your responses to the following questions:

 

1.  Does your company have any policies regarding the use of child labor in facilities supplying the commodities it purchases or on the plantations supplying the raw materials from which those commodities are produced?

 

2.  What steps does your company take to ensure that the facilities supplying the commodities it purchases and the plantations supplying the raw materials from which those commodities are produced do not employ children under the age of fifteen?

 

3.  What steps does your company take to ensure that the facilities supplying the commodities it purchases and the plantations supplying the raw materials from which those commodities are produced do not employ children under the age of eighteen in hazardous labor?

 

4.  What steps does your company take to ensure that the facilities supplying the commodities it purchases and the plantations supplying the raw materials from which those commodities are produced make in full and without delay all payments legally due workers under the laws of the countries in which those facilities operate?

 

5.  Does your company monitor on an ongoing basis labor rights conditions in the Salvadoran facilities from which it purchases commodities or on the plantations supplying the raw materials from which those commodities are produced?

 

6.  Did your company conduct any labor rights monitoring or inspections of Compañía Azucarera Salvadoreña, its mill Central Izalco, or any plantations supplying raw sugarcane to Central Izalco during the time period indicated above?