The increasing role of supermarkets
The rapid spread of supermarkets in terms of market penetration and geographical reach has resulted in an important restructuring within the agri-food system in many countries around the world. Supermarkets have increasingly become the dominant outlets of agricultural products, from fresh vegetables produced by farmers to foods processed by multinational companies (TNCs). Agri-food experts1 more and more recognize that supermarkets influence the rest of the agricultural chain up to the farmers’ level. This means a power shift in the distribution chain from suppliers and wholesalers towards retailers. This can have an effect on how developing countries’ products can actually enter markets in industrialised countries, even in liberalised world markets, and on the income or value added for farmers and food producers in developing countries. read more lessrelated content
Give non-state actors access to customs trade information
SOMO and 55 other civil society organisations and trade unions wrote an open letter to the European Commission on the ongoing revision of the Union Customs legislation. They call on the Commission to ensure that…
Get in touch and find out what SOMO Services can do for you
read moreHolland inc: for all your investments in war crimes
International community must act against Israel’s repression of Palestinian human rights organisations
Last Thursday, the Israeli army violently raided seven prominent Palestinian human rights organisations and sealed their doors. Last weekend, the director of Al Haq (Shawan Jabarin) was threatened by telephone and the director of Defense…
SOMO strongly condemns raids on offices of six Palestinian NGOs. Third States must act.
This morning, the Israeli military raided the office of our partner Al-Haq, a Palestinian human rights organization, in Rammallah West Bank, occupied Palestinian territory , and five other Palestinian civil society organisations. After forcibly raiding…
Testing the occupation
Research is reason for entry ban into Israel
Documents from the Israeli Ministry of Strategic Affairs show that two SOMO employees are no longer allowed to enter Israel because of research done by SOMO on companies in occupied Palestinian territory (OPT). The two…
Children harvest Brazil nuts in Bolivia
Child labour, wages too low to support a family and workers who feel trapped in their work because of debt owed to their bosses – these are the main findings of an investigation into labour…
Brazil nuts: Exploitative social and economic conditions in the Bolivian Amazon
Settlement between Camellia / Kakuzi and Kenyan claimants
SOMO welcomes settlement between British agribusiness giant and Kenyan claimants
The case against agricultural multinational Camellia for alleged human rights abuse at its Kenyan subsidiary, Kakuzi, has ended in a settlement between the British company and 85 claimants. The settlement for a sum of GBP…