Phase 1 – Assessment: Human rights in principle and practice

There is much that is good about the tea sector – the global popularity of its product (it is still the world’s most popular drink after water), the millions of livelihoods it supports, and the innovation, passion and creativity that has driven it for nearly two centuries, resulting in many new and better ways of organising its production and trade.

Yet, despite the good intentions of many in the industry, on every human rights dimension we examined in our human rights impact assessment of the tea sector, there were sector-wide breaches.

Human rights in principle

There is a plethora of righs, standards, legislation, regulations, policies setting out the rights that every human should enjoy. These range from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to the Conventions of the International Labour Organisation, to national labour laws and individual company policies. Certification standards are intended to support companies in meeting many of these rights.

If all of these were being followed, workers on tea plantations would be living in secure housing spacious enough for their whole family. They would be paid enough to cover all their basic needs and have some over for emergencies. Their children would enjoy free, good quality education and if they fall sick they would get good healthcare. They would have enough to eat and be well nourished. They would have the freedom to choose where they live and whether they continue to work on the estate. Women would not be subject to discrimination and sexual abuse. Children would not be forced to work to support their families. Smallholder tea farmers would enjoy similar conditions, as well as a living income.

Human rights in practice

THIRST has drawn on over 200 authoritative references by academics, NGOs, trade unions, journalists and government agencies to ascertain the extent to which this was true. Sadly, we found that the gap between the human rights of tea workers and farmers in principle and the reality of their lives is huge. For example we found that:

• Women across tea-growing regions experience economic and employment discrimination, sexual abuse and coercion and violation of maternity rights. Trade unions tend to be male-dominated so women’s voices often go unheard.
• The sector is characterised in multiple origins by very low incomes – often below international poverty lines – even when they meet legal minimum wage levels and are agreed through collective bargaining.
• Occupational health hazards such as musculoskeletal injuries from carrying heavy loads, spraying pesticides without the protective equipment, and exposure to tea dust in factories are common across the sector.
• Housing in many parts of the sector is dilapidated with toilets in poor condition or non-existent; many workers do not have access to safe drinking water, leading to risk of cholera and typhoid, while medical care is often rudimentary.
• Forced labour and child labour has been identified in the tea industries of multiple countries.
• Older people in tea growing regions are highly vulnerable to rights abuses, losing their homes and access to medical care on retirement.

Read the report