Supermarket chains Lidl and Aldi perform best in the field of human rights. Oxfam Novib reports this on the basis of its own research. The originally German companies leave market leaders Albert Heijn and Jumbo far behind in the ranking of the development organization. “PLUS remains the major laggard”, according to Oxfam Novib.
Oxfam Novib has been assessing supermarkets on their human rights policy every year since 2018. It looks at how workers, farmers and women are involved in their supply chains in producing countries.
Jumbo scored insufficient, but higher than a year earlier. “We appreciate that our efforts have resulted in a higher rating of our presentations compared to the previous ranking,” said a spokesperson. According to Jumbo, part of the efforts in the coffee chain, among other things, have not been included in the score. “We believe that this unfairly paints a too negative picture of our progress.”
A spokesperson at Albert Heijn points out that the report includes all brands of Ahold Delhaize and not just Albert Heijn. According to her, this creates a distorted picture. Albert Heijn would be a forerunner within the supermarket group.
PLUS again received the lowest score of the Dutch supermarkets from Oxfam Novib. “In our opinion, Oxfam Novib’s report does not do sufficient justice to our efforts,” said a spokesperson. “There is still a lot to do, and as a responsible supermarket we are happy to do that.”
“For the first time since the launch of the ranking in 2018, we see that a few supermarkets score sufficiently,” says human rights expert Charlotte Vollaard of Oxfam Novib. “Lead-runners Lidl and Aldi now have to show that their policies and practices really lead to concrete improvements.” The development organization believes that every supermarket chain can and should do much more to combat exploitation.
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