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Article

21 Feb 2023

Author:
BBC

Kenya: Undercover investigation unearths sexual exploitation of female workers on James Finlay & Lipton tea farms; companies comment

"True cost of our tea: Sexual abuse on Kenyan tea farms revealed"

Sexual exploitation has been uncovered on tea farms that supply some of the UK's most popular brands, including PG Tips, Lipton and Sainsbury's Red Label. More than 70 women on Kenyan tea farms, owned for years by two British companies, told the BBC they had been sexually abused by their supervisors. Secret filming showed local bosses, on plantations owned by Unilever and James Finlay & Co, pressuring an undercover reporter for sex. Three managers have now been suspended...

The BBC's Tom Odula spoke to women who worked on tea farms run by both companies. A number told him that because work is so scarce, they are left with no choice but to give in to the sexual demands of their bosses or face having no income. "I can't lose my job because I have kids," said one woman. Another woman said a divisional manager stopped her job until she agreed to have sex with him. "It is just torture; he wants to sleep with you, then you get a job," she said....

James Finlay & Co said Mr Chebochok was immediately suspended after the BBC contacted the company. The company said it also reported him to the police and was now investigating whether its Kenyan operation has "an endemic issue with sexual violence". ..Unilever says it was "deeply shocked and saddened" by the allegations. The company sold its operation in Kenya while the BBC was secretly filming. The new owner, Lipton Teas and Infusions, says it has "immediately suspended the two managers", and ordered a "full and independent investigation".

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