Rainforest Alliance suspends James Finlay, Ekaterra product licences over sex abuse case
Workers pick tea at a plantation Kericho County. Investigation reports in the wake of the BBC’s revelations of rights abuse in tea farms reveal that both women and men have been abused.
What you need to know:
- The move on Thursday followed an audit in the estates of the two companies as a result of the sex scandal and gender based violence claims that came to light in February.
- A documentary by the BBC, published on February 20, lifted the lid on the sexual exploitation of female workers by managers, supervisors and contractors in the two companies.
Multinational tea companies James Finlay and Ekaterra have been dealt a major business blow with the Rainforest Alliance withdrawing licences for their products.
The move on Thursday followed an audit in the estates of the two companies as a result of the sex scandal and gender based violence claims that came to light in February.
Rainforest Alliance is an international non-profit organissation that works in business, agriculture and forests to protect workers and create better working conditions for them, besides building local economies.
A documentary by the BBC, published on February 20, lifted the lid on the sexual exploitation of female workers by managers, supervisors and contractors in the two companies.
"For both tea estates - Ekaterra and James Finlay a - audits confirmed the presence of non-conformities of the social and management criteria of the Rainforest Alliance Sustainable Agriculture Standards," the alliance said in a statement on Thursday.
"Based on these results, we have taken the decision to suspend the certification of both certificate holders in accordance with the Rainforest Alliance Certification and Auditing Rules V1.2" It states.
The decision to suspend the certification was communicated to the two companies on May 9.
In effect, tea that had been shipped out before the suspension was communicated is not affected, but the exports from now henceforth will not be accepted in particular markets abroad as they are not Rainforest Alliance-traceable.
The alliance said it remained committed to working with stakeholders in the supply chain in developing a plan for addressing the challenge of gender-based violence in a systematic manner. It also said will continually be given as the development has a huge effect on the sale of tea from the two companies.
James Finlay is in the process of finalising the sale of its estates in Kericho and Bomet counties to Sri-Lankan based Browns Investments PLC in a deal that has kicked off a storm,with local communities and county governments claiming not to have been involved despite owning the land occupied by the company on a 99-year lease.
Ekaterra bought the estates it occupies in the region from Unilever Tea Kenya almost two years ago.
Following the release of the documentary by the BBC and a series of special reports carried by the Nation, the two companies said they had separately put in place measures to remedy the situation, including suspending those involved and severing ties with the contractors.
International supermarket chains Tesco and Sainsbury’s have condemned the incidents while Starbucks said it had immediately suspended purchasing from James Finlay in Kenya – until the matter is resolved.
Ekaterra said that as a result of the expose, it was implementing the Kenya Human Rights Commission's 2011 report on gender-based violence against women.
Ms Slyvia Ten Den, the Ekaterra managing director in charge of Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania, said the company was not aware of cases of sexual abuses prior to the expose published by the BBC.
“I wish to set the record straight that we have no cases reported to us as a company on sexual exploitation, a matter that we have zero tolerance to. The BBC report came to us as a shock and we have taken proactive measures to enhance reporting structures in the estates and factories,” Ms Den said.
“Any cases of sexual harassment and gender-based violence are promptly investigated, and appropriate action taken, including referral to the criminal justice system for prosecution,” Ekaterra said in a statement.
James Finlay, a subsidiary of the Swire Group in London, said it had commissioned two independent investigations - by NGO Partner Africa, which specialixes in ethical working practices, and law firm Bowmans - to examine the specific allegations in the heart wrenching documentary.
It sought to comprehensively review where the company can improve approaches to preventing and addressing any sexual violence, abuse or harassment across its Kenya sites.
“We are delivering an action plan to reinforce existing safeguards. Finlay remains wholly committed to taking decisive action to ensure our workers feel protected and supported,” the firm stated at the time.
Lately, Ekaterra and James Finlay tea estates in Bomet and Kericho counties have been a target of invasion by people who are illegally harvesting green leaves and selling them to brokers who supply to the Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) and privately-owned factories.
The invaders have engaged in running battles with the police. A policeman recently sustained several head injuries after being attacked by a machete-wielding assailant at James Finlay's estates.
The police officer is still admitted to the Kericho County Referral hospital, three weeks after the attack.
