Firms using Indonesian palm oil tainted by abuse

Jakarta / AFP

Multinational companies are selling consumer products containing palm oil from Indonesian plantations where workers suffer rights abuses, Amnesty International warned on Wednesday, listing problems including child labour and exposure to toxic chemicals.
The edible vegetable oil is a key ingredient in many everyday goods, from biscuits to shampoo and make-up, and growing demand has led to a boom in the industry in Indonesia, which is the world’s top producer of the commodity.
But palm oil has long been controversial, and a new Amnesty report said it found a “wide range of abuses” at Indonesian plantations. Palm oil from the sites could be traced to nine global firms, including Kellogg’s, Colgate-Palmolive and Unilever, it said.
Amnesty spoke to 120 workers
on plantations owned by two
subsidiaries of Singapore-based agribusiness Wilmar International and three Wilmar suppliers, on Sumatra island and the Indonesian part of Borneo.
“Companies are turning a blind eye to exploitation of workers in their supply chain,” said Meghna Abraham, senior investigator at Amnesty International. “Big brands continue to profit from appalling abuses. These findings will shock any consumer who thinks they are making ethical choices in the supermarket when they buy products that claim to use sustainable palm oil.”
Among the abuses Amnesty said it had uncovered were children as young as eight doing hazardous work on plantations, and women being forced to toil for long hours for salaries below the minimum wage.