Executive Summaries

The executive summary of a report about mobile phone manufacturing in China and the Philippines.

Executive summary of the report The Dark side of Healthcare.

SwedWatch report describes how the Swedish company Sandvik has a close business relation with the controverial mine Freeport in Papau.

In this report SwedWatch examines the social and environmental effects behind the Swedish imports of coffee from Brazil. Improvements have been made the last years, due to the work of local unions, authorities and different certification programs, but the industry still demonstrates unacceptable ethical flaws.

Executive summary of the report: ”Growth in low cost countries with ethical risks – Assa Abloy in Romania and Mexico”, September 2005.

In this report SwedWatch examines the role and the responsibility of companies that are present in undemocratic and repressive states. Six Swedish companies have production plants in Saudi Arabia, a country well known for its negative human rights record.

SwedWatch report about paper and pulp in Indonesia focuses on the Swedish business relations with the large pulpmills on Sumatra and the consequenses for the rainforests and the local communities in the region.

Clas Ohlson is a Swedish retailer, focusing on the sale of products for domestic use. During the last years, Clas Ohlson has expanded dramatically and an increasing part of the company's goods are manufactured in China. The move of the production to China may, however, create negative social and environmental consequences. So far Clas Ohlson has not addressed these risks.

In the beginning of the supply chain you find the seasonal workers, who are picking and packing the fruit that finally is sold by retailers in countries like Sweden. Many of the workers are women and for many of them the fruit exports have given them the opportunity to receive remuneration for their labour for the first time in their lives. Their employment, however, is insecure in many ways. The salaries are low and the union rights are limited. This report includes case studies from Chile and South Africa.

What is it really like to be in Santa Clause's workshop? In May 2004 SwedWatch made a field study to Guangdong in China where a large part of the world's toy manufacturing takes place. SwedWatch and Fair Trade Center have also let an organisation in Hong Kong carry out interviews with the workers outside the workshops of nine factories that supply toys to the Swedish market.