Petition Letter: SEZ Expansion in Andhra Pradesh, India
(to the Social and Environmental Affairs Team of Adidas)

To:

The Global Director
Adidas Social and Environmental Affairs Team (SEA)
Social & Environmental Affairs
Adidas World of Sports
Adi-Dassler-Straße 1
91074 Herzogenaurach, Germany
Phone: +49 (0) 9132 / 84 - 0
Fax: +49 (0) 9132 / 84 - 3242
Email: sustainability@adidas-group.com

Dear Sir/Madam,

I would like to draw your kind attention to a matter of great concern in Andhra Pradesh India. I am highly concerned to know about the fate of the poor tribal and landless people of 12 tribal and Dalit villages in Tada, who are facing threats of imminent starvation due to the establishment of a shoe manufacturing unit of the Apache Footwear Ltd., which is an authorised manufacturer of the Adidas sports shoes, inside a Special Economic Zone close to these villages. The Government provided 450 acres of land to this company in this SEZ for the production of shoes to be exported mainly to international markets.

Due to the construction of this shoe production unit in this SEZ and fencing of nearby lands the tribal people from 12 villages had no access to nearby grazing grounds, fields and water bodies, which resulted into chronic hunger and malnutrition. These tribal families were landless and had very poor assets for pursuing a safe and sustainable livelihood. They are entitled to receive government land on a priority basis as per land reform programme but in reality the reverse process is taking place as vast tracts of lands, surrounding their villages, are given to the Apache Footwear Ltd in the SEZ by the government, making it impossible for these tribal families to derive their livelihoods from Common Property Resources. The tribal families also lost employment as agricultural labourers when the government turned over the agricultural lands to the Apache Footwear Ltd. I am further aware that there are very limited employment opportunities for these unskilled tribal people in the newly constructed shoe manufacturing unit of Apache Footwear.

As a well reputed and responsible company I am sure Adidas upholds the basic human rights principles and the rights of poor to have access to food and/or food producing resources. The activities of the Apache Footwear Ltd in the SEZ near Tada have seriously undermined the food sovereignty of tribal people and Dalits. In the circumstances, referring to your corporate commitments to human rights and your commitments to corporate social responsibilities I would request you to take following steps immediately:

• Take immediate steps against the Apache footwear Ltd. which is violating right to food of hundreds of villagers in Tada
• Inspect the depth and dimension of the livelihood losses in that area due to the shoe productions of the Apache Company and compensate the villagers adequately for their losses
• Emphasise on respecting human rights principles and upholding the food sovereignty of the local people in all your future cooperation with the Apache Footwear Ltd. in Andhrapradesh and elsewhere in India.

In the context of this case, I would like to draw your attention to the states’ human rights obligations, which include taking steps against those ‘third parties’ which destroy right to food of the people. I hope that the steps taken by you in this case would secure the rights of the poor tribal and Dalits and would ensure their food sovereignty in a long run. Your proactive role in safeguarding the food sovereignty of poor tribal and Dalits in Tada would be highly appreciated by all and would increase the good reputation of Adidas, world-wide.

I would very much appreciate if you keep me informed about the future developments regarding this case in Andhra Pradesh.

Yours Sincerely,

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