Indigenous activists backed by environmental groups have filed a lawsuit in a French court against the Casino supermarket chain, claiming that their stores in Latin America are sale of land grabs and deforestation-related meat in the Amazon.
First to France, Casino activists took to court on Wednesday over deforestation and loss of land and livelihoods in Brazil and Colombia, two of the company’s largest markets.
The plaintiffs – a coalition of indigenous activists and environmental groups from France and the U.S. – allege they violate human rights systems and environmental laws in the company’s supply chains in Latin America. They are seeking € 3.1 million ($ 3.7 million) in damages.
“We want [Casino] respect their environmental responsibilities by taking new steps for the environment and compensating indigenous communities for the damage they have suffered, ”said Sébastien Mabile, for the coalition, in an interview with FRANCE 24.
French due diligence law
The trial in Saint-Etienne, where Casino Group is headquartered, marks the first time a series of French supermarkets have been brought to court over alleged deforestation and human rights violations. made by their suppliers. Casino is one of the leading supermarket chains in France, owning both Franprix and Monoprix stores.
It is based on the 2017 due diligence law which requires French companies with more than 5,000 employees to ensure that human rights and environmental violations are not guaranteed in their supply chains.
The complaints point to evidence compiled by the Center for the Study of Climate Crime, a non-profit organization based in The Hague, according to which Casino has regularly purchased beef from company-owned abattoirs. Brazilian meat controversy JBS.
“The three abattoirs received cattle from 592 suppliers responsible for at least 50,000 hectares of afforestation between 2008 and 2020,” they said in a statement, noting that the deforestation area is “five times larger. greater than Paris ”.
Damage to the forest and its people
Founded over a hundred years ago, Groupe Casino is the largest retailer in Brazil and Colombia, through the separate Pao de Acucar and Grupo Exito stores. Latin America as a whole accounted for nearly half of the group’s € 31.9 billion in sales last year.
“Deforestation is largely caused by cattle farming; so it is normal for those who benefit from this environmental and human tragedy to also pick up the bill, ”said Lucie Chatelain, a legal expert at the French Sherpa NGO, which aims to protect victims of financial crimes.
Cattle are known to be the main driver of deforestation in South America, especially in Brazil, where the national space agency has warned that deforestation reached the Amazon 12-year high last year . Experts have warned that the world’s largest rainforest is approaching a hotspot, threatening a shift from a canopic closed rainforest to an open savannah.
In addition to the environmental damage caused by deforestation, the plaintiffs in the Casino case are also seeking compensation for the human rights violations suffered by indigenous communities.
“Our indigenous peoples are defenders of the Amazon and indigenous land,” Luiz Eloy Terena, director of the people of Terena Brazil and the legal advice for the Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (AIPB), said at a joint news talk Wednesday. “Apart from the financial damage it has caused, the damage done to indigenous land is affecting our way of life and threatening the survival of our culture, traditions and, at the same time. ultimately, feed people. “
Hard controls
With the effect of FRANCE 24, Casino declined to comment on a court case. However, the company said in a statement that its Brazilian subsidiary GPA used a “systematic and strict policy to control the origin of cattle provided by the suppliers”. The French organization “is actively fighting deforestation associated with cattle raising in Brazil and Colombia, taking into account the complexity of supply chains,” the statement said.
Despite Casino’s promise, the complaints confirm that the French organization has yet to pledge to stop the sale of deforestation-related meat products at their stores in Latin America.
“In 2021, it’s possible to go to Mars but a company like Casino can’t eliminate afforestation from their supply chain – it’s not allowed,” said Boris Patentreger, cofounder of the environment group Envol Vert. He said a “double speech” at Blasting Casino: “The company can play the organic card for its urban clientele in France, through brands such as Naturalia and Monoprix, while at the same time participating in the deforestation of the region. Amazon. ”
Not just Casino
Carrefour, another French retailer, was called out for criticism. Last July, the research website Disclose revealed the links between Carrefour and a Brazilian meat producer linked to Amazon deforestation. At this stage, “we have chosen to follow Casino in court because it is present in both Colombia and Brazil, but Carrefour is only present in the latter,” said Mabile, the lawyer. . “But our demands on Carrefour are the same.”
Sellers are not the only critics, the plaintiffs point out, confirming that governments are also dependent on the state of the Amazon. In Brazil, the government of President Jair Bolsonaro has severely weakened measures designed to combat deforestation, despite the destruction of the rainforest the main cause of greenhouse emissions in the country.
Although they do not have the power to impose governments, the French NGOs hope that the lawsuit will at least raise “awareness of the responsibilities of French companies around the world,” Mabile said.
Companies are under a lot of pressure from lawyers and campaigners to protect the Amazon. Last month, French bank BNP Paribas promised to fund only Latin American beef and soybean producers promising zero deforestation. Earlier, the bank joined other lenders in promising to stop financing crude oil trade in Ecuador, which indigenous leaders are to blame for the destruction of rainforests.
This article was translated from the original in French.