Court examining if companies can be prosecuted for profiting from exploited workers

A Dutch court is currently considering whether the Public Prosecution Service (OM) should prosecute two Dutch companies for potentially profiting from exploited North Korean workers. According to the Article 12 procedure filed by an international network of NGOs, two Dutch companies had ships or parts for ships built at a Polish shipyard known to use exploited workers.

According to Trouw, the companies involved are the shipping company Shipkits and the dredging company Boskalis.

Between 2013 and 2018, around 80 North Koreans were systematically exploited by the shipyard, previous research by Leiden University showed. In 2020, NGO network La Strada International filed charges against the two Dutch companies for profiting from human trafficking. According to La Strada International, the Dutch companies “knowingly accepted the significant possibility that the ships they purchased were built with the help of human trafficking.”

At the time, the OM dropped the case due to insufficient evidence. So, the NGO network filed an Article 12 procedure, which asks the court to force prosecution. “The North Koreans cannot stand up for themselves and have already left the country, so we will do it for them,” lawyer Suzanne Hoff, who represents the NGO network, told Trouw.

The court questioned the two involved companies on Wednesday during a closed hearing. It will rule whether they should be prosecuted in six weeks.

Boskalis told Trouw that it was unaware of exploited North Koreans working at the shipyard in question but refused to answer further questions. Shipkits has since merged with the now-bankrupt company CIG Shipbuilding and was later partly taken over. It is unclear who is answering for the company’s past activities.