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The problem is: if you dig deep enough, you will find problematic issues in almost every (!) major company. Environmental protection, good employment conditions, etc., are all written on the flag. I can say from various companies that the statements to the public were completely different from those made internally.

If I could be sure that everything was right with a company, I would focus more on that. But this way: no chance, because every company has the "potential" to be a monster or "slave driver" - even if it is their sub-sub-sub-suppliers or service providers.

I don't invest in armaments because I don't want to profit from war. I find everything else extremely difficult to evaluate unless you take an extremely close look at it.

In my view, consumers are the ones who have the biggest impact. But even they only ever know what it looks like outside the clean door of the headquarters and not where and how the primary materials and raw materials are procured in detail.
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@KevinC
But I think closing your eyes and accepting it, even though this report clearly shows the catastrophic conditions, is not the way to go.
That's why it was important for me to address and discuss it in this forum where investments are concerned.
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@KevinC Armaments are the most honest business.
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@KevinC
Armaments really are a double-edged sword.
In times of more and more aggressors and dictators, unfortunately no one can avoid investing more and more in armaments.
Such companies are perhaps even our life insurance at the moment.
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@Tenbagger2024 I think armor/defense is absolutely necessary! I just don't want to benefit from it myself. They are two different things.
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@Tenbagger2024 If I knew, for example, that a company was deliberately committing or tolerating criminal acts, I would naturally not invest in it. However, supply chains are now so complex and opaque that hardly anyone can put their hand in the fire. I am a supply chain planner for a large corporation. I've even worked for the supplier of my current employer. But I can't answer where the steel and aluminum comes from. I'm really deep into it, but nobody has the opportunity to check everything. Especially not on a regular basis, at most on a random basis.
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@KevinC
It's true that the big companies simply have a great talent for outsourcing responsibility for matters that are not clean.

Only when it comes to children should we no longer accept this.
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@Tenbagger2024 I agree - but I've never done it before. However, it is extremely heavy. Every device with a Li-ion battery potentially contains child labor. I would even be unsure about the Fairphone.

And doing without smartphones, future e-cars and all devices with batteries is not really an option.
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@KevinC
That is why there should be a resolution banning child labor worldwide.
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@Tenbagger2024 even if it were forbidden...

I come from the logistics industry. It is completely normal in Europe today and many players are aware that working hours are massively exceeded and rest periods undercut. Be it parcel carriers or Europe-wide overnight transportation. 20 hours at the wheel, 2,000 km. We've seen it all before. It's also illegal and doesn't take place in Kenya, but on our doorstep.

I agree with you that child labor should be banned and that there should be severe penalties for violations. But it will be almost impossible to monitor this unless several hundred thousand people around the world are tasked with constantly penetrating all companies down to the last detail. Otherwise, it will certainly take several decades before the problem in poor countries is solved.
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@KevinC
It is better to keep naming the problems, drawing attention to them and putting your finger in the wound than to ignore them and close your eyes.
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