Legal and Policy Debrief: 5 March – 19 March

Updates:

On 12 March, the Paris Judicial Court ruled against the Yves Rocher Group for failing to comply with France's Duty of Vigilance Law in relation to its Turkish subsidiary, where more than 130 workers were dismissed between 2018 and 2019 after joining a trade union in protest against poor working conditions and systematic discrimination against women including sexual violence. 

The court found that the company had failed to properly identify the risks of workers' rights violations, specifically freedom of association despite having visibility of these risks. This is the first time a French company has been found liable for human rights violations abroad under the Duty of Vigilance Law, making it a landmark ruling for corporate accountability. 

This is nonetheless a partial victory. The court dismissed compensation claims by the majority of workers on the grounds that their losses had already been addressed by a settlement agreement signed with the Turkish subsidiary in 2019 — an agreement workers say they were compelled to accept after more than 300 days on strike which highlights procedural challenges that remain for victims. 

Indonesia is currently moving towards mandatory human rights due diligence legislation that would require companies in scope to conduct HRDD. The law, which would be implemented through a presidential regulation would replace the existing voluntary framework, serving as a response to external legislative pressure. The legislation would come into effect in 2028.  

There is growing concern, however, over the progress and process of the formation of the law. On the one hand, trade unions demand meaningful worker representation in the drafting process, warning that without strong enforcement mechanisms and genuine worker participation, the law risks becoming a box-ticking exercise. On the other hand, there is concern over the capacity of smaller companies, which build the backbone of the Indonesia economy, to implement due diligence measures without public support. 

Notes/Further Reading: 

The Coalition on Labor Justice for Migrants in the Gulf has issued an urgent call to action highlighting the extreme risks faced by more than 31 million migrant workers across the conflict zone encompassing the GCC countries, Jordan, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine and Iran following the escalation of military conflict in the region. 

Already in often vulnerable positions, migrant workers account for nearly half of all workers in the GCC and the majority of the total population in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE, yet are routinely excluded from emergency evacuation protocols and denied access to bomb shelters.  

An investigation by Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) found that between 2012 and 2018, around 70 metric tons of Venezuelan gold worth more than $2.2 billion were funnelled through the Caribbean island of Curaçao before being refined in Switzerland by Argor-Heraeus, one of the world's largest gold refineries.

The investigation shows that the gold is likely to have come from conflict-affected mining areas. Downstream buyers included Apple, Tesla and Nvidia. 

A landslide triggered by heavy rains killed more than 200 people, including around 70 children, at the Rubaya coltan mine in eastern DRC — the second such deadly collapse at the site in as many months, following a similar incident in late January. The mine, which produces approximately 15 percent of the world's coltan, has been controlled since 2024 by the M23 rebel group, which Congolese authorities have accused of allowing illegal mining without sufficient safety standards.  

---

Deforestation Legislation and Indigenous People’s Rights 

Updates:

There has been a renewed lobbying push by US officials to push back the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) ahead of the Commission’s review in April. The central demand is the introduction of a "negligible risk" category in the EUDR's country classification system and a change to the methodology used to rank countries, to prevent the US from being reclassified to a higher risk tier. A senior USDA official warned that the law, as it stands, threatens billions of annual US trade to the EU. 

Environmental groups are urging the EU to hold firm, with WWF EU warning that every year of delay results in the loss of nearly 50 million trees and 16.8 million tonnes of CO₂. The Commission has signalled that changes will likely be limited to technical tweaks rather than a full legislative reopening.  

There is growing concern that the Ecuadorian government is failing to comply with a ruling by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ordering it to halt oil extraction in the Yasuní National Park to protect the Tagaeri and Taromenane Indigenous peoples, who live in voluntary isolation.  

Since the verdict in March 2025, oil production is found to have continued at 1.2 million barrels per month, the government has failed to establish a court-ordered commission to monitor the movements of the Indigenous groups, and environmental monitoring reports have been withheld from the public. 

Further Reading/Listening:

In the context of its efforts to strengthen agriculture and forestry standards under the African Organization for Standardization (ARSO), the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) has released a benchmarking report assessing to what extent the standards can support EUDR compliance. 

While the report finds that while ARSO's governance framework is strong and broadly aligned with international good practice, several core technical elements required under the EUDR — particularly on risk assessment, traceability, legality, and transparency — are only partially addressed or absent from the current standards. 

---

Forced Labour Legislation 

Updates:

The US has announced it would open new trade investigations into relations with over 60 countries, including the EU, Canada and the UK, to assess whether the countries have hurt US companies by failing to effectively impose and enforce bans on goods made with forced labour. It is widely expected that the investigation will lay the ground for further tariffs on the countries investigated. 

While the recent developments on tariffs leave little reason to believe that forced labour is truly at the heart of this move, some countries such as Taiwan have indicated to committed to improving labour rights and preventing forced labour. Others have pointed to existing or upcoming legislation on forced labour, such as the EU, questioning the appropriateness of the investigation.  

It remains to be seen whether the probe will have positive impacts on legislation on forced labour in the countries under probe. However, it is central to note that the US’s tariff policy has severely impacted workers in different industries. Especially the garment sector has been affected, including in Brazil, in Lesotho,  Bangladesh, and India, among others.