Summer is here, and many people will wear perfume when they go out. But behind the rich aroma, there is a hidden oppression and exploitation of children by perfume giants.
Last summer, when the BBC investigated the perfume supply chain, it discovered that the jasmine used by Lancôme and Aerin Beauty was suspected of child labor.
Lancôme's Idôle L'Intense eau de parfum, as well as the jasmine used in two fragrances by Aerin Beauty, a brand of Estée Lauder Companies, Ikat Jasmine and Limone Di Sicilia, are all from Egypt. Jasmine is an important ingredient in perfumes, and Egypt produces about half of the world's supply.
Industry insiders say that the giant companies that own many luxury brands are squeezing their budgets, resulting in very low salaries. Jasmine pickers in Egypt say they are forced by life to let their children pick jasmine as well.
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Picking jasmine flowers for one night only earns 10 yuan
Heba, who lives in a village in the Gharbia region, in the heart of Egypt's jasmine-growing region, wakes up her family at 3 a.m. to pick jasmine flowers so that the sun's heat doesn't damage the flowers.
Heba says she and her four children, who range in age from 5 to 15, pick flowers together. She works on a farm and, like most jasmine pickers in Egypt, is a so-called "independent picker". This means that the more she and her children pick, the more they earn.
On the night of the shoot, Heba and the children picked 1.5 kilograms of jasmine. After the landowner took a third of her income, she was left with only about US$1.5 (10.89 yuan).
Inflation in Egypt is at an all-time high, and jasmine pickers often live below the poverty line, where their labor is cheaper than ever.
Heba's 10-year-old daughter, Basmalla, has been diagnosed with severe eye allergies. The BBC arranged a consultation for her, and the doctor said that if left untreated, continuing like this would have a serious impact on her vision......
After harvesting and weighing, the jasmine is transferred to several local factories that extract essential oils from the flowers, the main three being Fakhri, Hashim Brothers and Machariko. Every year, it is these factories that set a price for the jasmine flowers that Heba and the women pick.
It's hard to say exactly how many of the 30,000 employees in Egypt's jasmine picking industry are child laborers. But in the summer of 2023, the BBC filmed in the area, interviewing a number of residents who told the BBC that because the jasmine was bought at a low price, it was important to have children pick them together.
In four different locations, the reporter witnessed a significant number of children under the age of 15 picking jasmine on the farm and supplying it to local factories. Other sources reported that children were working on farms owned by Macharico. BBC reporters went undercover to film and found the pickers to be between 12 and 14 years old.
In Egypt, it is illegal for anyone under the age of 15 to work between 19:00 and 07:00.
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A true "master"
These factories export jasmine essential oil to international perfume companies that produce perfumes. Givaudan, headquartered in Switzerland, is one of the largest, and they have a long-standing partnership with Fakhri.
Christophe Laudamiel, an independent perfumer, and several other industry insiders say that all the power is held by beauty giants above fragrance companies — like L'Oréal and The Estée Lauder Companies.
The perfume giants, he said, are the real "masters", setting tasks and keeping budgets low.
"Perfume companies are interested in selling essential oils at the highest possible price at the cheapest possible price," Laudamir said. "He worked for several years in one of the perfume companies.
"Perfume companies do not directly control the wages of workers and the unit price of jasmine recycling, which is beyond their purview," he explains. ”
But he said that because of the perfume company's tight budget, wage pressures were "passed down" to the factories and eventually to the pickers.
He adds: "It's ironic that perfume companies talk a lot about the preciousness of perfume in their advertisements, but they pay their workers very little wages. ”
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The censorship system is non-existent
In the promotional materials, the perfume company paints a picture of the perfect source of perfumes. Every employer in the supply chain has signed the UN Commitment to Eliminate Child Labour, committing to adhere to UN guidelines on safe working practices and the elimination of child labour.
A Givaudan executive said the problem was a lack of oversight of the supply chain by perfume companies.
The executive, who asked not to be named, said the companies relied on the perfume company's instructions to arrange for a specific third-party audit firm to conduct due diligence.
The audit firms most frequently mentioned on the factory and perfume companies' websites, as well as in letters to the United Nations, are Sedex and UEBT. The audit reports of the two companies are not made public, and the BBC reporter managed to get Fakhri to send them to reporters by pretending to be looking for a buyer of the jasmine that met ethical standards.
UEBT's report, based on last year's visit to the plant, showed that there were indications of human rights concerns, but did not elaborate. Despite this, the company has been "verified", meaning that the company provides "jasmine essential oil from a reliable source".
UEBT responded: "There is a company that has obtained a Responsible Sourcing Certificate, subject to an action plan...... Valid until mid-2024 if ...... If it is not executed, it will be revoked".
Sedex's audit report gave a positive assessment of the plant, but it was clear that the report was made well in advance and that they only audited the factory site itself, not the farm where they sourced their jasmine.
Sedex told the BBC that it is "firmly against all forms of labour rights violations. However, there cannot and should not be a single tool to identify and remediate all environmental and human rights risks or impacts."
Sarah A. Brown, a lawyer and founder of the Responsible Contracting Project, which works to improve human rights in global supply chains. Dadush said the BBC's investigation showed... The censorship system is non-existent.
The problem, she said, is that "auditors only audit what they pay to audit", and that may not include the price paid to labor, which is the "main root" of child labor.
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Will child labor be better?
Herry responded that child labor is prohibited on its farms and factories, but that most of its jasmine comes from independent collectors. "In 2018, under the supervision of UEBT, we started the Jasmine Plant Protection Product Mitigation Project, which prohibits individuals under the age of 18 from working on farms." The company added that "by any comparable standard in Egypt, the purchase price of Jasmine is well paid".
Machalico says it does not use pickers under the age of 18 and has raised the purchase price of jasmine in the past two years and will continue to do so this year. And Hashemite Brothers said the BBC's report was "based on misleading information".
Givaudan, which produces Idôle L'intense for Lancôme, said the BBC's investigation was "deeply alarming", adding that "it is incumbent on all of us to continue to take action to eliminate the risk of child labour once and for all".
Firmenich produces Ikat Jasmine and Limone Di Sicili for Estée Lauder's Yarui, and has also sourced jasmine from Machalico in the summer of 2023. It told the BBC that it had cancelled its partnership with Machariko and was now working with a new supplier in Egypt. Firmenich added that it will "support initiatives that seek to address this issue with industry partners and local jasmine farmers".
The BBC presented the findings to the perfume giants.
L Oréal said it was "actively committed to respecting the most internationally recognized and most protective human rights standards", adding that the company had "never asked perfumers to buy raw materials at prices below market prices at the expense of farmers".
Despite our strong commitment... We know that in some parts of the world where L'Oréal's suppliers operate, our commitments are at risk.
It adds: "Whenever a problem arises, L'Oréal takes the initiative to identify the root cause and the solution to it. "In January 2024, our partners conducted an on-site human rights assessment to identify potential human rights violations and find ways to prevent and mitigate them, with a focus on child labour risks."
L'Oréal provided a supplementary statement to the BBC:
"L'Oréal is working to ensure that farmers are paid adequate wages, that their children have access to education, and that human rights laws, policies and practices are in place to prohibit child labour.
"Ahead of the June harvest this year, we have developed a detailed action plan with our suppliers, and our team will travel to Egypt to assess their performance."
Estée Lauder said: "We believe that the rights of all children should be protected. We have contacted our supplier to investigate this very serious matter. Recognizing the complex socio-economic environment in which the local jasmine supply chain operates, we are taking action to increase transparency and work to improve the livelihoods of the sourcing community.
Back in Egypt, when we told Heba about the price of perfume on the international market, she was shocked.
"The labor here is worthless," she said.
"I don't mind people using perfume, but I hope that the people who use perfume can help us, see the pain of these children, and give us a voice."
But lawyer Sarah Dadush said the blame does not lie with the consumer.
"This shouldn't be solved by the consumer. We need legal ...... We need corporate accountability, and that can't just be the responsibility of consumers. ”