Luxury perfumes dey linked to child labour - BBC find out

Children dey pick ingredients wey suppliers to two major beauty companies dey use di BBC don reveal.

One BBC investigation last summer into perfume supply chains find out say na minors dey pick di jasmine wey Lancôme and Aerin Beauty suppliers dey use.

All di luxury perfume brands claim say dem get zero tolerance for child labour.

L'Oréal, Lancôme owner, say dem dey committed to respecting human rights. Estée Lauder, di owner of Aerin Beauty say dem bin don contact dia suppliers.

Di jasmine wey dem use for Lancôme Idôle L'Intense - and Ikat Jasmine and Limone Di Sicilia for Aerin Beauty - dey come from Egypt, wey dey produce about half of di supply of jasmine flowers for di world - one important perfume ingredient.

Industry insiders bin tell us say plenti companies wey own many luxury brands dey squeeze budgets, wey dey cause very low pay. Egyptian jasmine pickers say dis dey force dem to involve dia children.

And we bin don discover say di auditing systems wey di perfume industry dey use check on supply chains get errors.

Di UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, Tomoya Obokata, say im bin dey disturbed by di evidence wey di BBC get, wey include undercover filming for Egyptian jasmine fields during di picking season last year.

"On paper, dem [di industry] dey promise many good tins, like supply chain transparency and di fight against child labour. If you look dis video recording, dem no dey actually do di tins dem promise to do."

Heba - wey dey live for village for di district of Gharbia, di heart of Egypt jasmine region - dey wake her family up by by 03:00 early morning to start to pick di flowers bifor di heat from sun go spoil dem.

Heba say she need her four children - wey dey from 5 to 15 years - to help. Like most jasmine pickers for Egypt, she be wetin dem dey call "independent picker" and na for smallholder farm she dey work. Di more she and her children fit pick, di more money dem go earn.

On di night wey we film her, she and her children manage to pick 1.5kg of jasmine flowers. Afta she pay one - third of wetin she earn to di land owner, na roughly US$1.5 [£1.18] remain from dat night work. Dis no get value like ever bifor, sake of inflation for Egypt wey dey at an all-time high, and pickers dey live below di poverty line.

Heba daughter wey dey 10 years Basmalla, don also dey diagnosed wit serious eye allergy. For one medical consultation wey we attend wit her, di doctor tell her say if she continue to pick jasmine without treating di eye, she fit no see well again.

Once dem don pick di jasmine and weigh am, dem dey transfer am through collection points to one of di many local factories wey dey extract oil from di flowers - di three main local factories na A Fakhry and Co, Hashem Brothers and Machalico. Evri year, na di factories wey dey set di price for di jasmine wey pipo like Heba pick.

E dey difficult to know exactly how many children dey inside di 30,000 pipo wey dey involved for Egypt jasmine industry. But during di summer of 2023, BBC bin film across dis region and tok to many pipo wey dey live dia wey tok say di low price for jasmine mean say dem need to include dia children for di work.

We witness say, for four different locations, a significant number of pickers wey dey work on smallholder farms - wey dey supply di main factories - na children under di age of 15. Multiple sources also tell us say, children dey work on farms directly owned by di Machalico factory, so we go undercover to film dia and we see pickers wey tell us dia ages wey range from 12 to 14.

E dey illegal for anyone under di age of 15 to work for Egypt between di hours of 19:00 and 7.00 (7pm in di evening and 07:00 for morning).

Di factories export di jasmine oil to international fragrance houses wia dem dey create perfume. Givaudan, wey base for Switzerland na one of di largest, wey get longstanding relationship wit A Fakhry and Co.

But na di perfume companies wey dey above dem - wey include L'Oréal and Estée Lauder - wey hold all di power, according to independent perfumer Christophe Laudamiel and many oda industry insiders.

Dem sabi dem as "di masters", na dem dey set di brief and a very tight budget for di fragrance houses, im tok.

"Di masters' interest na to get di cheapest oil possible to put inside di fragrance bottle," and den sell am for di highest possible price, Mr Laudamiel, who don work for many years inside one of di fragrance houses tok.

"Dem no dey actually govern di salary or di wages of di harvesters, or di actual price of jasmine, becos dem don big pass dat level," im explain.

But im tok say becos of di budget wey dem set, di pressure on wages dey "fall down" - to di factories, and ultimately, di pickers.

"Big disconnect dey between di preciousness wey dem dey talk about for di marketing talk, and wetin dem dey actually give di harvesters," im add.

For dia promotional material, di perfume companies and fragrance houses dey paint picture say dem dey follow all di ethics to source for dia fragrances. Every employer for di supply chain bin don sign a letter of commitment to di UN, pledging to abide by di guidelines regarding safe working practices and to remove child labour.

Di issue, according to one senior executive wit fragrance house Givaudan, na di lack of oversight wey di perfume companies get for dia supply chains.

One of di executive of dis companies dem wey choose not to call im name, rely on di fragrance houses to instruct third-party auditing companies to check for due diligence.

Perfume Dark Secret

Top perfume brands fit get di "worst form of child labour" for dia supply chain, na wetin BBC Eye investigation reveal.

Di auditing firms wey di conglomerates and fragrance houses dey mention for dia websites evritime, and inside letters to di UN, na Sedex and UEBT. Dia audit reports no dey publicly available but by posing as a buyer wey dey look for ethically sourced jasmine, we manage to get di factory A Fakhry and Co to send both of dem to us.

Di report from UEBT, based on one visit to the factory last year, show say indication of human rights issue bin dey, but e no go into detail. Despite dis, dem give di company "verification", wey mean say dem fit tok say dem dey offer "jasmine oil wey dem dey source responsibly".

UEBT, for dia response to dis, say: "Dem don give one company di responsible sourcing attestation, subject to an action plan… valid till mid 2024, and dem go withdraw am if… dem no implement am."

Di Sedex report bin give di factory beta assessment, but e bin dey clear from di write-up say den bin don announce di visit earlier, and only di factory site na im dem bin audit, and no be di smallholder farms wia dem dey source jasmine from.

Sedex tell us say dem dey "firmly against all forms of labour rights abuses. But no be only one tool alone fit or dem suppose rely on to uncover and correct all environmental and human rights risks or impacts."

Lawyer Sarah Dadush, founder of di Responsible Contracting Project, wey dey seek to improve human rights for global supply chains, say di BBC investigation "reveal… say those systems no dey work".

Di issue, she tok say, na "di auditors wey dey only audit wetin dem pay dem for to audit", and dis fit no include di price wey dem dey pay to di labour force - "wey be a major root cause" of child labour.

A Fakhry and Co tell us say child labour dey banned for both dia farm and factory, but say di vast majority of dia jasmine dey come from independent collectors. "For 2018, under di monitoring of di UEBT, we start di Jasmine Plant Protection Products Mitigation Project, wey put ban on individuals under di age of 18 wey dey work for di farms." E add say, "by any comparable standards for Egypt, dem dey pay jasmine pickers well.

Machalico say im no dey use pickers wey dey under di age of 18, and say dem bin don increase di price wey dem dey pay jasmine pickers for di past two years, and dem go do so again dis year.

Hashem Brothers say our report dey "based on misleading information".

Givaudan, di fragrance house wey dey make Lancôme Idôle L'Intense, describe our investigation as "deeply alarming", e add say, "e dey on evribodi to continue to take action to remove di risk of child labour entirely".

Firmenich, di fragrance house wey dey make Ikat Jasmine and Limone Di Sicilia for Aerin Beauty, and for summer 2023 get jasmine from Machalico, tell us say now, dem dey use one new supplier for Egypt. E add say dem go "support initiatives wey go collectively address dis issue wit industry partners and local jasmine farmers".

We also put di findings of di investigation to di perfume masters.

L'Oréal say dem dey "actively committed to respect di most protective internationally recognised human rights standards", e add say, e "no eva request Fragrance Houses to go lower dan di market price for ingredients at di expense of farmers. Despite our strong commitments… we know say for certain parts of di world wey L'Oréal suppliers dey operate, risks of weda dem go uphold our commitments dey."

E add say: "Anytime any issue come up, L'Oréal dey work proactively to identify di underlying causes and di way to solve di issue. For January 2024, our partner bin perform one on-site human rights impact assessment to identify potential human rights violations and find ways to prevent and stop dem, wit a focus on di child labour risks."

Estée Lauder say: "We believe say di rights of all children should be protected. And we don contact our suppliers to investigate dis very serious mata. We recognise di complex socio-economic environment wey dey surround di local jasmine supply chain, and we dey take action to get beta transparency and to work towards improving di livelihoods of sourcing communities."

Back for Gharbia, jasmine picker Heba shock wen we tell her di price wey dem dey sell di perfume for international market.

"Pipo for here no worth anytin," she tok.

"I no mind di pipo wey dey use perfume, but I want make di pipo wey dey use dis perfume to see am as di pain of children. And make dem speak up."

But lawyer Sarah Dadush say no be di consumer get di responsibility.

"Dis no be problem wey we suppose to solve. We need law… we need corporate accountability, and dat no fit dey ontop di consumers head."