Sime Darby Plantation’s response to liberty shared’s petition

We refer to our statement dated 8 July 2020 in response to a petition submitted by Liberty Shared (LS) to the US Customs and Border Protection on 20 April 2020, to block Sime Darby Plantation’s (SDP) exports to the United States, which is estimated at USD3 million annually (based on FY2019 volumes). As a matter of urgency and to ensure that any potential issues are expeditiously resolved, we have contacted LS by e-mail and have had a tele-conversation with Duncan Jepson, the author of the petition, to initiate discussions and to better understand concerns raised.

SDP is committed to eradicating any and all instances of human rights infringements within our operations and supply chain. If there is cause, we will immediately institute appropriate corrective actions to secure the wellbeing of all our employees. For this reason, we have requested for further details and information of the breaches and serious allegations alleged in LS’ petition. Despite the absence of such crucial information at this time, we will still provide our initial response in the best possible manner, based on statements contained in the petition summary, and our internal records relating to the matters raised.

Meanwhile, we welcome and appreciate any further information from any other sources that can help us identify the existence of and/or root cause of, any breakdowns in our system. SDP has always and will continue to close all gaps and correct any lapses in our operations and supply chain.

SDP will also continue to further engage, raise awareness and train our managers, assistant managers, and mandors on responsible business behaviour. Any non-compliance to our commitments will be addressed swiftly and firmly, after thorough investigations are concluded. We will also take all necessary steps to minimise the risk of such issues recurring.

Our review of the matters raised in the petition summary and our responses, which include background information for context, as well as our current practices and challenges, are contained in Appendix 1 set out hereunder.

We believe our responses to the summary of allegations demonstrate SDP’s commitment to uphold human rights throughout our operations. We are transparent about the challenges we face in our efforts to improve our practices on the ground, as we believe this is the best way to move forward. As with any organisation, we are aware that there will often be areas of improvement, especially with on the ground implementation of commitments, especially in an operation the size of ours.

SDP welcomes all stakeholders who are interested to discuss these issues in greater detail to engage with us, as we would be more than happy to share our perspective and position, as well as explore potential avenues to solve the challenges that we and the industry are facing.