5. British American Tobacco (BAT)
British American Tobacco (BAT) is the largest tobacco company in the world, with brands such as Pall Mall, Lucky Strike, Vogue, and Rothmans. Despite its name and popularity, the company has been accused of child exploitation several times.
In 2016, several reports surfaced of kids who wore working in hostile and poor conditions on some of their farms in Bangladesh. However, the giant still rejects these comments and accusations.
According to an academic at the University of Colorado, named Marty Otanez, the exploitation of children is happening in “every segment [of] the tobacco production process”.
In addition to that, it is believed that BAT doesn’t want to make any changes, because it’s afraid that their profit will decrease. In April 2018, at one of their AGMs, Richard Burrows, the chairman, stated that BAT has “not got any questions to answer in respect of these issues”.
6. Apple
Apple is known as an innovative brand, which is always constantly at the forefront of technology. This company represents a dream job for many college graduates and interns, but is it actually a dream?
Being one of the giants of the world, many questions have been raised about what actually happens in its supply chain. After the discovery that was made in 2013, when a Chinese contractor was employing underage children, Apple had also admitted that one of its bestselling products, the iPhone X, was being made by children who were in school.
In October 2018, the company faced other accusations, of school students who were under the age of 18, being made to manufacture Apple Watches. They were told that this was an “internship”.
The responsible contractor is based in southwest China, and he also collaborates with other tech giants, such as Siemens, Dell, and Amazon. According to some sources, Apple said that they are willing to end child labor practices, but its contractors are still allowed to hire “interns”.
7. Nestlé
Nestlé is one of the biggest and most consumed brands in the world, best known for its good sweets. In 2001, the company signed an industry agreement to destroy children’s exploitation from some of their cocoa farms in Ivory Coast and Ghana.
In 2005, a group of former child workers brought a lawsuit against the giant company. This lead to an investigation that was conducted by the Fair Labor Association (FLA). Even though new measures and practices have been introduced to get rid of the problems, there haven’t been that many improvements.
According to Terry Collingsworth, the lawyer who conducted the first lawsuit in 2018, it has been found that Nestlé didn’t make amends. The company went through another lawsuit, this time from the U.S. human rights activist Dannell Tomasella, who says that the Swiss-based company doesn’t tell the truth to their customers, by not addressing the involvement in children’s exploitation.
Nestlé has stated that child labor is a big problem, but they can not fully remove the issue. Other than that, the company said that they are willing to tackle the problem.
TAKEAWAY
What do you think about these companies? Did you know about any of these issues regarding child labor? What do you think needs to be done? Don’t forget to share your thoughts with us by leaving them in the comments section down below!
