“I was poisoned with Dormex while working”: Speech by Dina Ndleleni

My name is Dina Ndleleni.  I am 63 years old.  I am an activist from the Women on Farms Project and former farm worker who for 53 years lived and/or worked on commercial table grape farms in De Doorns in the Hexriver Valley in the Western Cape, South Africa.

In July 2022, while working on Mooigezicht Estates, I was poisoned with Dormex (which contains cyanamide). This has affected all aspects of my life.  My lungs were so damaged that I lost my job and income because I was unable to work.  I suffer from irreversible, chronic respiratory complaints which result in me being hospitalized a couple of times per year when I struggle to breathe and need artificial oxygen. Weiterlesen

Permanent link to this article: https://www.kritischeaktionaere.de/en/alzchem-en/i-was-poisoned-with-dormex-while-working-speech-by-dina-ndleleni/

“When can we call engagement without meaningful change inaction?”: Speech by Gomotsegang Brown Matloko, Wonderkop community

Good afternoon, Members of the Board, dear shareholders.

I am Gomotsegang Brown Matloko, I am from Wonderkop community in Marikana. I am speaking to you directly from South Africa, on the effectiveness or better: the lack of effectiveness of BASF’s human rights and environmental due diligence measures within its supply chain.

BASF rightly emphasizes its commitment to sustainability and responsible sourcing. These commitments are laudable on paper. However, the true measure of commitment and responsibility lies not in policy documents, but in tangible outcomes on the ground. Concerning the sourcing of platinum from Sibanye-Stillwater in South Africa, we see a significant and persistent gap between stated intentions and reality. Weiterlesen

Permanent link to this article: https://www.kritischeaktionaere.de/en/basf-se/when-can-we-call-engagement-without-meaningful-change-inaction-speech-by-gomotsegang-brown-matloko-wonderkop-community/

BASF does not fulfil its supply chain responsibility

  • Stakeholders sharply criticise BASF’s measures to implement human rights and environmental due diligence, especially in South Africa
  • Holding on to Harbour Energy implies co-responsibility for environmental and human rights violations in Argentina
  • Virtual format of the Annual General Meeting and disproportionate dividend proposal criticized

On the occasion of today’s Annual Shareholders’ Meeting of BASF, the Association of Ethical Shareholders Germany is calling on shareholders to refuse to approve key proposals of the management. In several countermotions, the association sharply criticises BASF’s unsustainable dividend policy, its implausible climate strategy and, above all, its inadequate response to human rights violations. Representatives of two communities that suffer directly from the consequences of BASF’s hunger for raw materials clearly illustrate these issues. Weiterlesen

Permanent link to this article: https://www.kritischeaktionaere.de/en/basf-se/basf-does-not-fulfil-its-supply-chain-responsibility/

Export and commercialisation of pesticides that are harmful to health and banned in the EU: Our countermotion

Item 3 on the agenda: Approval of the actions of the Executive Board for the 2024 financial year

The Association of Ethical Shareholders Germany proposes that formal approval of the actions of the members of the Executive Board be denied.

Reason:

The Executive Board continues to fail to adequately fulfil its human rights and environmental due diligence obligations.

Export and commercialisation of pesticides that are harmful to health and banned in the EU

Alzchem is one of the companies that continues to export pesticides that are classified as carcinogenic, mutagenic or toxic to reproduction and have therefore not been authorised in the EU for a long time. Weiterlesen

Permanent link to this article: https://www.kritischeaktionaere.de/en/alzchem-en/export-and-commercialisation-of-pesticides-that-are-harmful-to-health-and-banned-in-the-eu-our-countermotion/

Violation of human rights, climate and environmental due diligence obligations: Our countermotions

Regarding agenda item 2: Appropriation of profit

The Association of Ethical Shareholders Germany proposes that the appropriation of profit proposed by the Board of Executive Directors and the Supervisory Board be rejected.

Rationale:

The dividend is too high. BASF must invest significantly more in its own sites in order to create prospects for the future – especially at the Ludwigshafen site – in order to consistently move away from dependence on climate-damaging energies and achieve its own climate targets. It simply doesn’t add up when the Board of Executive Directors talks about a crisis, announces ever-increasing savings programs and job cuts, but still wants to pay out over 2 billion euros in dividends and benefits from government subsidies. Weiterlesen

Permanent link to this article: https://www.kritischeaktionaere.de/en/basf-se/violation-of-human-rights-climate-and-environmental-due-diligence-obligations-our-countermotions/

“You are claiming to fight climate change, but what you are actually doing is that you keep a whole people in an area of extreme risk for unsurvivable heat and humidity”: Speech by Zeina Abdulmaati Abdulrahmaan

Do you know the hot air you feel when you open your oven? That heat that feels like it will burn you instantly? Now, imagine being exposed to that feeling, not for just 10 seconds when you check on a cake, but for 24 hours straight. For 4 months. This is the reality of a summer in the Sahrawi refugee camps.

My name is Zeina, I’m 20 years old, and I was born in a refugee camp. Now, you might ask yourself, “Why was she born in a refugee camp?” and “Why has she continued to live in a place meant to be temporary, for two decades?” Weiterlesen

Permanent link to this article: https://www.kritischeaktionaere.de/en/siemens-energy-2/you-are-claiming-to-fight-climate-change-but-what-you-are-actually-doing-is-that-you-keep-a-whole-people-in-an-area-of-extreme-risk-for-unsurvivable-heat-and-humidity-speech-by/

“But one thing you should get very clear – money coming from Russia is bloody money”: Speech by Vladimir Slivyak, Ecodefense

Dear Mr Kaeser, dear Mr Bruch, dear members of the Managing Board and Supervisory Board, dear shareholders,

My name is Vladimir Slivyak, I work for the Russian non-governmental organization Ecodefense, which has been campaigning for safe energy and climate protection for the last 35 years. Because of this work, Ecodefense was falsely accused and persecuted by the Russian Government. In 2022, the European Court on Human Rights ruled that the Russian Government violated our rights (see “Ecodefense and others v Russia” 9988/13). Unfortunately, my colleagues and I had to leave Russia in order to avoid going to prison.

It’s nearly three years since Russia started unprovoked and bloody war in Ukraine which turned to be the largest war in European history since the second world war. Weiterlesen

Permanent link to this article: https://www.kritischeaktionaere.de/en/siemens-energy-2/but-one-thing-you-should-get-very-clear-money-coming-from-russia-is-bloody-money-speech-by-vladimir-slivyak-ecodefense/

Short-term profit from fossil fuels instead of long-term prospects for the future: Our countermotions

Regarding Agenda Item 3: To ratify the acts of the members of the Executive Board

The Association of Ethical Shareholders Germany requests that the acts of the members of the Executive Board not be ratified.

Rationale:

The Executive Board is not taking the necessary measures to achieve its long-term climate targets and is not fulfilling its human rights due diligence obligation.

Insufficient measures for climate protection: High emissions coupled with implausible climate targets

Although Siemens Energy has certainly recognized its responsibility, but also its own opportunities in the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energies, the targets for achieving true climate neutrality are not plausible. Weiterlesen

Permanent link to this article: https://www.kritischeaktionaere.de/en/siemens-energy-2/short-term-profit-from-fossil-fuels-instead-of-long-term-prospects-for-the-future-our-countermotions/