The meaning and limitations of transparency in the Transparency Act: The case of Joh. Kaffe and labor rights violations on Brazilian coffee farms

Abstract

A deregulated and global economy poses several challenges for the realization of human rights. Human rights due diligence (‘HRDD’) is today considered a key tool for companies and states to conceptualize and operationalize corporate responsibility for human rights in global value chains (‘GVCs’). Until recently, HRDD has been a voluntary process and one of many ways companies fulfill their social responsibility in the eyes of society. As a result, the corporate understanding and practice of HRDD has been varied and poor and not resulted in tangible benefits for rightsholders on the ground. To enhance and improve corporate practice of HRDD, states are now implementing HRDD into legislations, characterized as mandatory human rights due diligence (‘mHRDD’) laws. mHRDD laws represent an opportunity for states to shape the corporate uptake and practice of HRDD in ways that are beneficial for rights holders in the GVCs of companies covered by such laws. This thesis aims to explore the potential of mHRDD laws to contribute to the protection of human rights. The potential of mHRDD laws is explored through the assessment of the Norwegian Transparency Act as a newly implemented mHRDD law, and the HRDD of one company covered by the law. Namely, the Norwegian coffee company Joh. Johannson Kaffe AS (‘Joh. Kaffe’) and their implementation of HRDD in their Brazilian value chain. The key findings in this thesis are threefold. First, Joh. Kaffe’s implementation of HRDD is, at best, limited to addressing the high risk of labor rights violations on Brazilian coffee farms in their value chain. Second, these limitations are reflected in the implementation of the Transparency Act, which does not provide clarity on what is to be considered compliant HRDD or include enforcement mechanisms to hold companies accountable for not doing HRDD in a meaningful way for rights holders. Furthermore, the Transparency Act does not require companies to disclose traceability or financial information crucial to advance our understanding of root causes and possible solutions to address corporate infringements on human rights in GVCs. Finally, the limitations identified in the Transparency Act in the case of Joh. Kaffe reflect contemporary and future challenges in the design and implementation of mHRDD laws which contribute to the protection of human rights.