Don't Let Cargill Profit From Forced, Child Labor in Palm Oil

There is an ingredient in much of the food you eat and products you use that you may never notice, but is often produced by forced or child labor. Palm oil is ubiquitous in our food and cosmetics, and its production is rapidly expanding around the world as a biofuel. Recently, the U.S. Department of Labor released a new report revealing that palm oil from Indonesia may be tainted by child labor and palm oil from Malaysia may be produced by forced labor.

As the Rainforest Action Network (RAN) notes, palm oil is used in 50 percent of all consumer goods, from soaps and detergents to breakfast cereals and biofuels. Palm oil plantations are springing up all around the world, especially in West Africa and Southeast Asia. But it is U.S. corporations like Cargill that purchase much of the world's palm oil, which makes them very influential over conditions on palm plantations globally.

While Cargill and other companies profit from the sale of palm oil, many of the workers on palm plantations do not see these benefits. For example, Ferdi and Volario, who are 14 and 21 respectively, were promised good jobs and wages by labor recruiters in Malaysia if they came to work on a palm plantation. When they arrived at their new place of employment, however, they learned that their jobs were to spray pesticides on trees for long hours with no protective gear. After work, they were confined to work camps that were locked down by guards. After working months for no pay, they eventually escaped the plantation.

RAN found similar stories from other workers in the industry as well. RAN rainforest agribusiness campaigner Ashley Schaeffer recently met with a man named Suroso from Central Java who was lured to work on a palm oil plantation with similar promises of a better life, but found a quite different reality in this industry. Schaeffer explains:

After traveling by bus without food or water for 16 hours, Suroso found himself guarded by high security on his long boat journey to Borneo. When he finally arrived at his East Kalimantan work site, he was told he'd have to pay for his own protective gear–masks, gloves and hard hats–even though he wouldn't be getting paid until he and his 20-man team team cleared 60 hectares (approximately 148 acres) of steep, thick forest. There wasn't a school or a hospital for Suroso and the other men, very little food, and a stream used for drinking water, washing and human waste, which he described as 'not suitable for human survival.'

After months of work and receiving a small amount of pay far below the wages he was promised, Suroso escaped the plantation with several other workers.

While over 45 companies have signed on to the Rainforest Action Network's pledge to source responsible palm oil (or eliminate its use altogether), others, like Cargill, lag behind in ensuring that they are not sourcing products made by forced or child labor. While Cargill might not be a household name, it is one of the largest suppliers of palm oil, and many other agricultural commodities, globally. The company has made some progress recently on its own plantations in preparation for an audit, but Cargill still lacks appropriate labor rights safeguards for the palm oil it trades, refines and sells from various plantations throughout Indonesia and Malaysia.

You can stand in solidarity with workers in the palm oil industry like Ferdi, Volario and Suroso by telling Cargill to ensure that forced and child labor is not used in the production of the palm oil it sources globally.

Photo credit: Arwen