uk bat.com - Eliminating Child Labour in Tobacco Growing Foundation

The Eliminating Child Labour in Tobacco Growing Foundation was established in 2001

We helped to establish the Eliminating Child Labour in Tobacco Growing (ECLT) Foundation and support it actively as a founding member.

We are committed to the principles of protecting children from child labour exploitation, believing that their development - as well as that of their communities and countries - is best served through education, not child labour.  We do not employ children in our operations.

Child labour

Child labour can mean many things, although it is generally described as the exploitation of children in the workplace.  It has become a major issue of concern in recent times.  According to the International Labour Organisation. 218 million children are involved in child labour globally.

In 1990, the United Nations achieved a human rights milestone with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.  In 1996, child labour was addressed at the International Labour Organisation (ILO) conference, where a resolution was adopted on the elimination of exploitative practices.

Tobacco farming, particularly in developing countries, is one of the sectors with a child labour problem.  As the only international tobacco group with a significant interest in tobacco leaf growing, we are committed to working with other key stakeholders, including tobacco farmers, to address the problem in our supply chain.

Pioneering Foundation

In 2001, British American Tobacco helped to establish the Eliminating Child Labour in Tobacco Growing Foundation with the International Tobacco Growers’ Association (ITGA) and the trades unions in our sector, the IUF (International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations).

The Foundation grew out of an international partnership we had formed with the ITGA and the IUF in July 2000 to work against child labour in tobacco growing, to raise awareness of the problem and to involve all the stakeholders in the sector.  To galvanise action, an international conference was held in October 2000 in Nairobi, Kenya, hosted by British American Tobacco and attended by farmers, trades unionists, NGOs, government officials, the media and manufacturers from three continents.

The Foundation began work a year later, based in Geneva, with the mission to: “Contribute to the elimination of the use of child labour in the tobacco growing sector so that children are provided with an upbringing that gives them the best chance in all aspects of life.”

Its current director is Marilyn Blaeser, who was previously with the Canadian International Development Agency.  The IUF, ITGA and British American Tobacco continue to play active roles as founding members of the Foundation’s Board.

The Board is advised by the International Labour Organisation and its members include the tobacco manufacturers Imperial Tobacco, Japan Tobacco, Philip Morris International and Altria, along with the leading leaf processing companies Universal and Alliance One International.

The Foundation’s work focuses on:

• Independent research to produce an objective picture of the conditions and level of child labour in tobacco growing; 
• Supporting and funding local and community-based projects; 
• Establishing and sharing best practice and lessons learned.

You can find out more at the Foundation’s website www.eclt.org  or you can download their Annual Report 2008 .

You can download Our Group Child Labour Policy in Our principles and standards.

Download the speech by Marc Hofstetter , the Foundation’s first Director, to the world's tobacco growers at their 2001 annual meeting in Malawi.

Find out how some of our companies are tackling child labour in their tobacco growing supply chains:

• Tackling child labour in Mexico
• Tackling child labour in Brazil