According to a report in Reuters, another activist said they are also considering leaving the two-week-old panel after the world’s largest sustainable palm oil producer sued Liberty Shared managing director Duncan Jepson in connection with claims of worker abuse.
SDP did not immediately respond to the news agency’s requests for comment.
“Following the events of the last few days, we have regrettably decided to withdraw from the company’s Expert Stakeholder Human Rights Assessment Commission,” Francis West, business engagement director at US-based SHIFT, told Reuters on Friday.
SHIFT works with companies to implement the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
Another member of the commission, migrant rights activist Andy Hall, is considering following suit if SDP persists with the litigation.
“I am deeply concerned over the impact of this ongoing litigation against a human rights activist on the possibility for the human rights commission to function effectively according to its goals, and to conduct its work objectively and respectably,” Hall told Reuters on Saturday.
“I have expressed these deep reservations on the litigation to the senior SDP management in a private meeting on Friday. I will make my final decision on my participation in SDP’s human rights commission following Monday’s meeting with the board of SDP.
“I may have to resign if Sime Darby decides to continue with its action,” Hall said, adding that there were concerns that the lawsuit would affect whistleblowers.
Sime Darby formed the rights panel on March 1, but on Thursday said it had begun US legal action against Jepson, who heads Hong Kong-based anti-trafficking group Liberty Shared, seeking information about his complaint to Malaysia’s Securities Commission that led to an investigation into the company’s sustainability disclosures.
In December, the US Customs and Border Patrol banned the company’s palm oil imports after a petition from Liberty Shared, over allegations of forced labour in their production, prompting some global buyers to drop it from their supply chains.