BAT challenged on farming oversight
A Swedish campaign group has identified what it describes as widespread child labour, adverse health impacts, and over-indebtedness in the Bangladesh supply chain of British American Tobacco.
In a new report titled Smokescreens in the Supply Chain, Swedwatch highlights the tobacco sector’s pressing human rights and sustainability challenges, and documents findings from investigations into the tobacco industry in Bangladesh.
In a press note that accompanies the report, Swedwatch said that BAT was expanding cultivation into new countries without adequately addressing human rights challenges and implementing measures to ensure that vulnerable groups and the environment were protected.
“The tobacco industry is a high-risk sector as regards human rights: the supply chain is not transparent and risks are not adequately addressed,” said researcher Frida Arounsavath. “Unless this changes, there is a risk that what we witnessed in BAT’s operations in Bangladesh will continue and the establishment of new operations will lead to further exploitation and environmental degradation.”
The press note went on to say that though the tobacco sector in theory provided much-needed income opportunities for smallholder farmers, the reality was different: investment costs were high and when contract practices were substandard the returns at the end of the season were uncertain. In areas with few income alternatives, farmers risked becoming dependent on a company’s often unpredictable purchasing decisions.
“Farmers run the risk of their goods being down-graded or simply not purchased,” said Arounsavath. “This means that, together with health and child-labour risks, farmers risk being trapped in a cycle of over-indebtedness. According to Swedwatch’s analysis that in turn increases the risk for bonded labour as defined by the International Labour Organization.”
Swedwatch said that tobacco cultivation came at high costs for many of the farmers’ families and their laborers. Children, often primary school-age or older, worked long hours and carried out hazardous tasks in the cultivation process. This had negative impacts on children’s health, well-being and education.
When presented with the findings, Swedwatch said, BAT emphasised the benefits from tobacco farming and stated that the vast majority of the Swedwatch findings were not representative of reality. According to BAT’s management systems in Bangladesh, there were zero reported incidences of child labour and bonded labour.
“Today the tobacco industry has very low transparency in the supply chain where the risks for people and the environment are most critical,” said Arounsavath. “Swedwatch encourages BAT and other tobacco companies to openly disclose suppliers and sourcing areas, and to publish comprehensive good practice sustainability assessments for all their operations.”
The Swedwatch report is at: http://www.swedwatch.org/sites/default/files/tmp/bat_81_27juni_ensida.pdf
The executive summary is at: http://www.swedwatch.org/sites/default/files/tmp/executive_summary_0.pdf
BAT’s response is at: http://www.swedwatch.org/sites/default/files/tmp/160628_bat_response_to_swedwatch_june_2016_report_into_bangladesh.pdf
Swedwatch’s response to the BAT statement is at: http://www.swedwatch.org/sites/default/files/tmp/swedwatch_response_to_bat_statement_1.pdf.