Rape, abuse in palm oil fields supplying beauty brands like L’Oréal, Unilever, Avon
- Women bear brunt of brutal toil at plantations in Indonesia and Malaysia linked to names including Procter & Gamble and Johnson & Johnson
- Such workers do some of the industry’s worst jobs, spending hours in tainted water and carrying loads so heavy that, over time, their wombs can collapse
The 16-year-old girl describes how her boss raped her amid the tall trees on an Indonesian palm oil plantation that feeds into some of the world’s best-known cosmetic brands. He then put an axe to her throat and warned her: do not tell.
At another plantation, a woman named Ola complains of fevers, coughing and nose bleeds after years of spraying dangerous pesticides with no protective gear.
Hundreds of kilometres away, Ita, a young wife, mourns the two babies she lost in the third trimester. She regularly lugged loads several times her weight throughout both pregnancies, fearing she would be fired if she did not.
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Indonesian women in palm oil industry abused and exploited
Palm oil is found in everything from potato chips and pills to pet food, and also ends up in the supply chains of some of the biggest names in the US$530 billion beauty business, including L’Oréal, Unilever, Procter & Gamble, Avon and Johnson & Johnson, helping women around the world feel pampered and beautiful.
Associated Press conducted the first comprehensive investigation focusing on the brutal treatment of women in the production of palm oil, including the hidden scourge of sexual abuse, ranging from verbal harassment and threats to rape.