Supermarket chain Éxito and parent group Casino linked to deforestation and accusations of human rights harm in Colombia

Despite committing to various multilateral social responsibility programmes, Colombian supermarket chain Éxito – and its parent group, Casino – do not have an effective regulatory system to hold them to account.

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As a member of the Consumer Goods Forum, the Éxito group claim to have 100% transparency in their supply chain and have committed to zero deforestation initiatives through the Tropical Forests Alliance, the UNDP, the New York Declaration on Forests and the Colombian Roundtable for Sustainable Cattle Production. However, multiple reports have shown that some of the supermarket’s direct suppliers either take part in deforestation practices or buy meat from cattle raised illegally in protected national parks.

In May this year, the supermarket chain has also been accused of gross human rights violations after Colombian security forces allegedly used one of their stores to illegally detain and torture protesters.

The report details the company’s transgressions in detail and calls upon the Casino group to urgently address these allegations and implement robust due diligence frameworks to ensure their social responsibility commitments are upheld across their supply chains.