Terre des Hommes reacted with horror and deep disappointment to the European Parliament's decisions on the EU Supply Chain Directive (CSDDD). Instead of putting children and their rights at the center, an alliance of conservatives and the far right prevailed – against the votes of academia, civil society, and even parts of the business community ( www.we-support-the-csddd.eu ). The result: a law that barely deserves the name.

The decision by the European People's Party (EPP), which voted with right-wing, right-wing populist, and right-wing extremist factions, drastically narrows the circle of affected companies. In the future, only companies with more than 5,000 employees will be required to publicly report on their due diligence obligations regarding human and children's rights. Furthermore, human rights violations will only be prosecuted in particularly serious cases.

Alleged reduction of bureaucracy is a smokescreen.

Particularly cynical: The much-vaunted reduction of bureaucracy, used to justify the weakening of regulations, is a sham. Reporting obligations are not being abolished, but merely shifted – away from transparent, public accountability towards less comprehensible procedures between large and small companies. This deliberately hinders oversight, and once again, children's rights are being neglected.

“Those who ally themselves with right-wing groups to overturn protective standards are accepting that child labor and exploitation will once again become a business model,” says the Supply Chain Law Initiative. Terre des Hommes adds: The planned regulations represent a dangerous step backward. Without public reporting from companies, it will be virtually impossible for consumers and civil society to trace exploitative child labor in supply chains.

German Members of Parliament bear responsibility

German members of parliament played a particularly significant role, actively participating in the weakening of the law. Terre des Hommes calls on the German government to take a firm stance in the upcoming trilogue negotiations on the Omnibus I package to ensure that human rights due diligence obligations are not further weakened.

Europe must not allow supposed deregulation to be carried out at the expense of the most vulnerable – children. We need clarity, transparency, and binding agreements, not political maneuvering that sacrifices children's rights to lobby interests.