{"id":12079,"date":"2020-07-31T18:19:40","date_gmt":"2020-07-31T18:19:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.com\/kenya\/?p=12079"},"modified":"2020-07-31T18:19:40","modified_gmt":"2020-07-31T18:19:40","slug":"unilever-tea-workers-escalate-fight-for-reparations-to-u-n","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/economy\/unilever-tea-workers-escalate-fight-for-reparations-to-u-n","title":{"rendered":"Unilever tea workers escalate fight for reparations to U.N."},"content":{"rendered":"

AfricaPress-Kenya:<\/strong> A group of Kenyan tea plantation workers who say Unilever failed to protect them from ethnic violence have escalated their battle for reparations to the United Nations.<\/p>\n

The 218 victims include the families of seven workers who were killed and 56 who say they were raped when armed men invaded the multinational\u2019s plantation near the western town of Kericho during post-election turmoil in 2007-2008.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are heartbreaking stories,\u201d lawyer Daniel Leader of international law firm Leigh Day, which is representing the workers, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.\u00a0\u201cThere are many individuals who have suffered such severe physical harm by being attacked with machetes and clubs that they\u2019re unable to work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unilever, which buys 10% of the world\u2019s tea supply and owns major brands such as Lipton, PG Tips and Brooke Bond, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

The Anglo-Dutch multinational has previously said the scale of the post-election violence, which killed an estimated 1,200 nationwide, was not foreseeable.\u00a0From fashion to food, major businesses are coming under increasing regulatory and consumer pressure to ensure that their global supply chains treat their workers fairly.<\/p>\n

The complaint has been made to the United Nations Working Group on Business and Human Rights and the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights.<\/p>\n

It is not asking the U.N. to consider whether Unilever failed to protect the residents of its plantation but whether it breached its responsibility under U.N. principles on business and human rights to provide a remedy for the harm they suffered.<\/p>\n

SITTING DUCKS\u00a0The victims said threats of violence were spoken about openly on the plantation and reported to management but not acted upon, placing them at significant risk of attack.\u00a0By contrast, they said steps were taken to protect managers and expatriates.<\/p>\n

The tea pickers, most of them from ethnic groups that were not indigenous to the area, were \u201csitting ducks\u201d when the violence erupted, Leader said.\u00a0Some of the women contracted HIV after being raped, while other survivors were destitute, he added.<\/p>\n

Unilever failed to provide assistance after the violence and stopped their wages for six months, exacerbating their suffering, victims said.\u00a0The victims lodged an unsuccessful civil claim for damages against Unilever in England in 2016.<\/p>\n

The company argued that it could not be held responsible for any alleged failings of its Kenyan subsidiary.\u00a0But the victims say Unilever has tried to hide behind its corporate structure to block any prospect of a remedy.\u00a0Leader said he hoped Unilever would meet the victims and agree to medical and psychiatric assessments in order to arrange a welfare scheme, adding that the sum involved would be \u201csmall change\u201d for the multinational.<\/p>\n

He said the U.N. working group could issue a declaration on whether Unilever\u2019s behaviour met international standards and submit a report to the U.N. Human Rights Council highlighting any breaches committed.<\/p>\n

Although Unilever cannot be forced to take action, Leader said public condemnation by the world\u2019s leading body on business and human rights would be a big blow to a company that promotes itself as one of the world\u2019s most ethical.\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s potentially very damaging reputationally to Unilever if they continue to stonewall these victims,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AfricaPress-Kenya: A group of Kenyan tea plantation workers who say Unilever failed to protect them from ethnic violence have escalated their battle for reparations to the United Nations. The 218 victims include the families of seven workers who were killed and 56 who say they were raped when armed men invaded the multinational\u2019s plantation near […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":12073,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5,8],"tags":[1046,4964],"class_list":["post-12079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","category-homepage-english","tag-post-election-violence","tag-unilever"],"yoast_head":"\nUnilever tea workers escalate fight for reparations to U.N. - kenya<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A group of Kenyan tea plantation workers who say Unilever failed to protect them from ethnic violence have escalated their battle for reparations to the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/economy\/unilever-tea-workers-escalate-fight-for-reparations-to-u-n\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Unilever tea workers escalate fight for reparations to U.N.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A group of Kenyan tea plantation workers who say Unilever failed to protect them from ethnic violence have escalated their battle for reparations to the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/economy\/unilever-tea-workers-escalate-fight-for-reparations-to-u-n\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"kenya\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-07-31T18:19:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2020\/07\/unilever_tea_workers5f23164c9f39d.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"524\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/economy\/unilever-tea-workers-escalate-fight-for-reparations-to-u-n#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/economy\/unilever-tea-workers-escalate-fight-for-reparations-to-u-n\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Unilever tea workers escalate fight for reparations to U.N.\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-07-31T18:19:40+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/economy\/unilever-tea-workers-escalate-fight-for-reparations-to-u-n\"},\"wordCount\":550,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/economy\/unilever-tea-workers-escalate-fight-for-reparations-to-u-n#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2020\/07\/unilever_tea_workers5f23164c9f39d.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Post-election violence\",\"Unilever\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"economy\",\"homepage-english\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/economy\/unilever-tea-workers-escalate-fight-for-reparations-to-u-n#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/economy\/unilever-tea-workers-escalate-fight-for-reparations-to-u-n\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/economy\/unilever-tea-workers-escalate-fight-for-reparations-to-u-n\",\"name\":\"Unilever tea workers escalate fight for reparations to U.N. - 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