Section 12:

Social Justice

1. Operators shall comply with all ILO conventions related to labour welfare and the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child.  In most countries (e.g., South Africa) these are law, but compliance shall be checked during the inspection.  (See http://www.ilo.org/ilolex/english/convdisp1.htm for all ILO conventions.  Also http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/k2crc.htm for the Convention of the Rights of the Child
2. All employees shall have access to potable water, food, housing, education, transportation and health services.
3. Operators should provide for the basic social security needs of the employees, including benefits such as maternity and sickness and, in countries which require them, retirement benefits.  (These are not required in countries, e.g. South Africa and Namibia, with public pension schemes.)
4. Contracts should be fair, open to negotiation, and honoured in good faith.   Employees and contractors of organic operations shall have the freedom to associate, the right to organise, and the right to collective bargaining.  Operators shall not use forced or involuntary labour, including unpaid prison labour.
5. All employees shall have equal opportunity and adequate wages when performing the same level of work, regardless of colour, creed and gender.  There shall be no discrimination in treatment of workers.
6. Workers should have adequate protection from noise, dust, light and exposure to chemicals that should be in acceptable limits in all production and processing operations.
7. Operators shall respect the rights of indigenous peoples, and should not use or exploit land whose inhabitants or farmers have been or are being impoverished, dispossessed, colonised, expelled, exiled or killed, or which is currently in dispute regarding legal or customary local rights to it use or ownership.
8. No operator may employ a child who is —

(a)     under 15 years of age; or
(b)     under the minimum school-leaving age in terms of any law, if this is 15 or older
Children may be employed on a family farm or a neighbouring farm, provided that the employment: 
(i)      is appropriate for a person of that age;
(ii)      does not place at risk the child’s well-being, education, physical or mental health, or spiritual, moral or social development.

1. Operators who employ ten or more workers and who work in countries that do not enforce social laws shall draw up and institute a policy on social justice.