T OBACCO ’ S H IDDEN C HILDREN 108

T OBACCO ’ S H IDDEN C HILDREN 108

From the information supplied to Human Rights Watch, Philip Morris International has developed the most detailed and protective set of policies and procedures, including training and policy guidance on child labor and other labor issues which it is implementing in its global supply chain. PMI has also developed specific and expansive lists of hazardous tasks that children under 18 are prohibited from doing on tobacco farms, which include most tasks in which children come into prolonged contact with mature tobacco leaves, among other hazardous work.

Japan Tobacco Group stated that it is actively developing its child labor policies, including through cooperation with ILO experts on child labor, although it allows children older than

15 to perform a range of tasks in tobacco farming, including hazardous tasks, if children receive proper training and safety equipment, and its Agricultural Labor Policy defers to national law in the event of differences in the policy and national laws. Alliance One also developed a child labor policy and measurable standards for its implementation based on ILO principles, but in the information provided to Human Rights Watch, did not specify whether it considers certain tasks hazardous beyond those established in national laws.

The information shared by Imperial Tobacco Group with Human Rights Watch also did not specify how the company interprets or implements international child labor standards in practice in the US or their global supply chains. BAT provided to Human Rights Watch more detail on how it interprets international child labor standards, but only specified a small range of tasks that it considers hazardous.

From the information made available to Human Rights Watch, Altria Group does not have a separate child labor policy but requires entities in its supply chain to maintain compliance with international minimum age standards, and expects growers and suppliers in the US to refrain from employing children under 18 in hazardous occupations as defined under US law. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, responsible for leaf purchasing for all Reynolds American manufacturing subsidiaries, also does not have a specific child labor policy. Reynolds American states that it requires that growers with whom the company directly contracts respect national laws, but according to information shared with Human Rights Watch, apparently does not have similar expectations for other suppliers in the supply chain. 372

372 Letter from John S. Wilson, III, Vice President, Corporate Sustainability and Commercial Equity, RAI Services Company, to Human Rights Watch, February 28, 2014.

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Lorillard does not contract directly with any farms in the US and relies on its suppliers, Alliance One and Universal, to have policies and procedures in place concerning child labor. Lorillard does not directly monitor the treatment of workers in its supply chain. 373 Universal does not have a stated child labor policy, but told Human Rights Watch that it “agreed with” ILO standards on minimum age and the worst forms of child labor and commits itself to the relevant policies established by companies that purchase tobacco from it. 374

It is important to note that company policies generally prohibiting “child labor” do not prohibit all work by children under age 18. As noted above, under international standards, the term child labor refers to work done by children below the minimum age of employment or under hazardous conditions. An effective child labor policy should specify in detail what types of work are considered hazardous and therefore prohibited. None of the companies identified in this report have policies that explicitly prohibit children under

18 from all work in which they have direct contact with tobacco in any form, as Human Rights Watch recommends, based on our research findings and international standards.

As noted above, the UN Guiding Principles on Responsible Business details basic steps companies should take to respect human rights including to avoid causing or contributing to adverse human rights impacts through their own activities and to seek to prevent or mitigate adverse human rights impacts that are directly linked to their operations, products, or services by their business relationships, and mitigating abuses if they occur. 375 “Business relationships” are understood to include relationships with business partners, entities in its value chain, and any entity directly linked to its business operations, products, or services.

To achieve effective due diligence in the supply chain, companies should have a policy commitment to meet their responsibility to respect human rights; effective processes to identify, prevent, mitigate, and account for how they address their impacts on human rights; and processes to remediate any adverse human rights impacts a company causes or to which it contributes. The Guiding Principles also state that for businesses to gauge

373 Letter from Ronald S. Milstein, Executive Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary, Lorillard to Human Rights Watch, January 21, 2014.

374 Letter from H. Michal Ligon, Vice President, Universal Leaf Tobacco Company, to Human Rights Watch, March 10, 2014. 375 UN Commission on Human Rights, “Report of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Annex, I.A.1,” March 2011, http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/GuidingPrinciplesBusinessHR_EN.pdf (accessed March 10, 2014).