Malaysia, Indonesia palm oil farms using children, trafficked workers: investigation

Many workers from poor Asian nations, including the Philippines, Bangladesh and Myanmar, are exploited on palm oil plantations, according to an investigation

It discovered abuses such as trafficking and child abuse on farms big and small, some of which had passed checks on ethical production standards

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Malaysia and Indonesia produce about 85 per cent of the world’s palm oil supply. Photo: AP

Published: 1:30pm, 25 Sep 2020Updated: 3:41pm, 25 Sep 2020

An invisible workforce of millions of workers from some of Asia’s poorest countries toil in the palm oil industry, many of them enduring various forms of exploitation, including child labour, outright slavery and allegations of rape, an AP investigation has found.

In Malaysia and Indonesia, these workers tend the heavy reddish-orange palm oil fruit that makes its way into the supply chains of many iconic food and cosmetics companies like Unilever, L’Oreal, Nestle and Procter & Gamble.

Together, the two Southeast Asian countries produce about 85 per cent of the world’s estimated US$65 billion palm oil supply.

A worker harvests palm fruits from a plantation in Peninsular Malaysia. Photo: AP

Palm oil is virtually impossible to avoid. Often disguised on labels as an ingredient listed by more than 200 names, it can be found in roughly half the products on supermarket shelves – from paints to pills, animal feed and even hand sanitiser – and in most cosmetic brands.

The investigation interviewed nearly 130 people from eight nations who were current and former workers on two dozen plantations across Malaysia and Indonesia.