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Natural Fruit began legal action against UK citizen Andy Hall in February 2013 for his part in producing the report Cheap Has a High Price, published by the Finnwatch NGO (www.finnwatch.org), which exposed child labour, underpayment of wages and confiscation of migrant workers’ travel and work documents at the company’s factory. Natural Fruit has now brought a total of five criminal and civil defamation charges against Andy Hall and, if found guilty at the trial which begins in September, he could face up to seven years in prison on each count and about $9.5 million in damages.
In a joint letter sent on 8 August to members of the Thai Pineapple Industry Association (TPIA), of which Natural Fruit is a member, the organisations wrote: “Natural Fruit’s apparent effort to silence human rights defenders tarnishes the reputation of the TPIA and the entire Thai pineapple export industry. We ask that you take immediate action within the TPIA to urge that Natural Fruit drop its case against Andy Hall and cooperate with worker groups and NGOs to resolve alleged labor rights violations at its factories.
“We would hope instead that Natural Fruit would pursue the matter in accordance with the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, which calls upon businesses to ‘address adverse human rights impacts with which they are involved’ as a foundational principle.”
If Natural Fruit refuses to drop the case, the letter urges the TPIA to revoke the company’s membership and remove Mr. Piyapornpaiboon, Natural Fruit CEO, as TPIA president.
ITF president Paddy Crumlin commented that the case meant Thailand itself was on trial and that the impending trial against Mr Hall was a national and international embarrassment and should be ended immediately.
To read the letter in full and find out more about the case, visit the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre webpage. Find out how you can help by visiting Andy Hall’s website.