The Slave-like Conditions of Workers in the Palm Oil Industry of Southeast Asia

Indonesia and Malaysia produce about 85% of the world’s palm oil supply. However, due to its dependency on migrant workers, the Malaysian palm oil sector is experiencing more problems with forced labor and modern forms of slavery than its counterpart in Indonesia. Indeed, United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has placed a detention order on palm oil and related products from Malaysian government-linked FGV Holdings Berhad. As a result, the latter made a commitment to address responsible recruitment and improve workers’ rights by launching the Responsible Employment Charter. Through textual analysis of existing legal frameworks, reports, and empirical qualitative studies based on interviews, this chapter assesses whether the Charter meets international good practice in terms of labor standards and whether it helps to mitigate violations of human rights and worker rights. It also analyzes whether efforts made by the Malaysian government and Malaysian companies can pave the way for a regional policy to protect migrant workers in the palm oil industry. The findings show that not only does the Charter fail to meet international labor standards, but its effectiveness is also problematic, thereby making any chance of a regional policy slim, at best.