British tea makers, including the famous brand Lipton, were accused on Monday February 20 of sexual abuse of more than seventy employees by officials on plantations in Kenya, according to a BBC investigation. “More than seventy women on Kenyan tea estates owned for years by two British companies have told the BBC of being sexually abused by their superiors,” the British channel reported on its website.
The plantations pointed to belong to Lipton Teas and Infusion, which was recently a subsidiary of the British agrifood and hygiene products giant Unilever, as well as to its compatriot James Finlay, a subsidiary of the conglomerate Swire.
According to testimonies collected by the BBC, several victims said they had no choice but to give in to the sexual demands of their bosses to obtain or keep their jobs. One says she was infected with HIV, while others became pregnant, according to this BBC Africa Eye/Panorama investigation. An official is accused of raping a 14-year-old girl who lived on one of the plantations.
A journalist for the channel, who posed as a potential employee on farms owned by the two companies, was herself pressured into consenting to sex in exchange for work.
“Full and Independent Investigation”
Unilever, whose sale of its operations in Kenya came during filming, said it was “deeply shocked by the BBC program’s allegations”, in a statement provided to AFP. “We have worked hard for many years to address the very serious issues of sexual and gender-based violence against women in the tea industry,” the group continued, saying it was “very disappointed” that it was not enough to prevent reported abuse.
Nathalie Roos, general manager of the new owner Lipton Teas and Infusions assures for her part “to have immediately suspended the managers” implicated and ordered a “full and independent investigation”, so that in the future “any case of violence or abuse is detected, reported and resolved”. “The safety of women” working in the sector “is particularly close to my heart,” she added, saying she too was “shocked and appalled.”
“There is no place for sexual abuse or harassment in our business,” said James Woodrow, managing director of James Finlay, claiming to have suspended and reported two people to the police.
The group adds that it has commissioned independent investigations to examine “both the specific allegations in the documentary as well as our approach to preventing sexual violence” and put an end to such practices.
Unilever finalized in July the sale for 4.5 billion euros of its tea division, which includes 34 brands including Lipton, Tazo and Pukka, to the CVC Capital Partners fund. This entity now based in the Netherlands has since taken the name of “Lipton Teas and Infusions”.