TC disputes child labour claims

Tobacco Commission (TC) says the industry has registered numerous strides in the fight against human rights violations in tobacco growing areas.

The sentiments follow allegations from the United Nations Human Rights Council that large numbers of children working on tobacco farms in Malawi remain out of school. The council also said that despite the abolition of the tenancy system, serious concerns persist in relation to risks of trafficking of children and forced labour.

According to the council, cases reported affect over 7 000 adults and 3 000 children.

But in a written response last week, TC spokesperson Telephorus Chigwenembe described the statistics as misleading and not an accurate representation of the reality on the ground.

He said: “We would prefer if any agency documenting human rights violations in tobacco in Malawi consulted and allowed us to confirm their findings so that we provide an accurate picture of the situation.

“We have undertaken various steps in addressing the issue of human rights violation in the industry.”

Among others, Chigwenembe the commission is working with the Geneva-based Elimination of Child Labour in Tobacco (ECLT) on a three-year relationship which, among others, is aimed at strengthening their capacity in dealing with not just child labour, but other forms of human rights violations in the industry.

In addition , the commission is also implementing a Know-Your-Grower Campaign in which it is documenting every tobacco farmer “in a special way that will help us trace every leaf to a particular grower”.

Improving traceability will allow us to pin culprits or engage them in various other ways aimed at arresting human rights violations in tobacco,” he said.

On his part, Tobacco Association of Malawi (Tama) Farmers Trust president Abiel Banda said they are taking issues of human rights of farm workers seriously.

He said: “We feel lately there is a lot of effort being done by all players in the industry in the fight against child labour and promotion of human rights.”

Employers Consultative Association of Malawi executive director George Khaki said while implications of the allegations are grave as this could affect exports and deeply hurt employment creation, employers have been working closely with the International Labour Organisation, government, Malawi Congress of Trade Unions and the agricultural sector to tackle the issue of child labour and forced labour.

“One of the outcomes is the abolition of tenancy in the Employment Amendment Act (2021),” he said.

In a letter dated August 30 2022 to the UN Office of the High Commission for Human Rights, one of the growers, JTI said as per the JTI Group Human Rights Policy, the grower is committed to respecting human rights across its operations and supply chain and to conducting human rights due diligence.

“JTI Limited Malawi has implemented this policy in full and has undertaken various forms of human rights due diligence over the years,” it said in the letter.

In November 2019, the United States (US) Government Customs and Border Protection issued a WRO on Malawi, allowing it to detain tobacco, which is believed to have been produced using forced labour.

Following the WRO, which was later lifted, tobacco shipments arriving in USA were detained at the port of entry before being subjected to heavy scrutiny to prove that the leaf is not produced with child labour, which is prohibited under the US law.

World Bank data shows that official tobacco exports in real terms declined by 42 percent between 2016 and 2021.

Comparatively, tobacco exports through August 2022 were only worth K149 billion in nominal terms, compared with K183 billion in the same period in 2021.

Tobacco remains Malawi’s main export crop, raking in about 50 percent of total export revenue followed by tea and sugar.