Unilever's response to allegations of sexual abuse on Kenyan tea plantations
We were deeply shocked by the horrific abuse that the BBC found during its investigation into sexual and gender based violence on the Kericho tea estates. Every woman working in the tea supply chain should be free to work safe from fear and intimidation. Unilever no longer owns any tea estates, and we welcome the immediate action by the new owners, Lipton Teas and Infusions, who have suspended staff identified by the BBC and publicly committed to a full and independent investigation. We are determined to understand why the extensive measures we put in place during our ownership and management of these tea estates failed to prevent this abuse. We hope that the Lipton Tea and Infusions’ investigation, as well as any inquiries carried out by Kenyan authorities, will tell us exactly what happened, as well as when and why these systems did not work. Over the last decade, we have worked very hard to stop the serious issues of sexual and gender-based violence against women that were highlighted by SOMO and the Kenya Human Rights Commission in 2010 and 2011. The measures we introduced, after wide consultation with tea pickers, also adopted recommendations of an independent ombudsman’s report in full ...
We would like to reiterate our shock and disappointment at seeing such blatant disregard for the policies and practices that we introduced to protect women in Kericho and to stress our full commitment to learn from the investigations. We will continue our efforts to eradicate sexual and gender-based violence from our value chains ...
[Full response attached]
