https://en.sputniknews.africa/20230925/after-more-than-15-years-is-there-any-justice-for-unilevers-attacked-kenyan-workers-1062335440.html
After More Than 15 Years, Is There Any Justice for Unilever's Victimized Kenyan Workers?
After More Than 15 Years, Is There Any Justice for Unilever's Victimized Kenyan Workers?
Sputnik Africa
In 2007, after local elections, scores of assailants invaded a Unilever tea plantation in Kericho, Kenya, and attacked hundreds of workers and their families... 25.09.2023, Sputnik Africa
2023-09-25T12:26+0200
2023-09-25T12:26+0200
2023-09-25T14:08+0200
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London-based multinational consumer goods company Unilever will pay compensation to 77 tea-pickers who worked on its plantation in Kenya, which was targeted during post-election violence in 2007, according to UK law firm Leigh Day.The solicitors' firm representing the workers said Unilever had agreed to make voluntary payments to former workers at its Unilever Tea Kenya subsidiary who were assaulted at the Kericho plantation. It was noted that Unilever identified those who missed out on the financial support it had offered at the time.Kenya was plunged into crisis in December 2007 after President Mwai Kibaki was declared the winner of a presidential election amid allegations of vote rigging. Violence broke out in several parts of the country. The plantation was temporarily closed after the attacks. According to Unilever, when it reopened, the company provided workers with financial support and necessary items to replace those that were looted, as well as medical assistance and counseling. Those who did not return were offered severance packages.But the workers say that they have not been adequately compensated. Those who returned to the plantation said they received a sum of about £80 each, the equivalent of a month's wages, which was insufficient considering what they had suffered. A number of them have reported symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.Representatives for the plaintiffs said Unilever's new payments are a continuation of the company's attempts to avoid addressing the workers' grievances, and that justice must be served.In 2015, workers and residents at Unilever's tea plantation filed a lawsuit against Unilever PLC and Unilever Tea Kenya Limited in the King's Bench Division of the High Court of Justice in England. The lawsuit was filed in connection with violent attacks that occurred at the plantation in 2007. The claim alleged that Unilever Tea Kenya had failed to protect its tea workers from the risk of ethnic violence. The workers said that Unilever placed them, minority tribes, in a particularly vulnerable position by bringing them in large numbers to live and work on its Kericho tea plantation, where they were surrounded by a hostile tribe, particularly during elections when tempers run high.However, the case was dismissed, with the court ruling that there was insufficient evidence that Unilever dictated or advised on the terms of its subsidiary's contingency plans, and therefore there was no jurisdiction over the UK-based parent company.In August 2020, a coalition of NGOs representing 218 tea-pickers of the Kericho plantation filed a complaint against Unilever to the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights and the UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights. The ongoing complaint alleged that the company violated international human rights standards by failing to provide adequate support to its workers.
https://en.sputniknews.africa/20230711/kenyan-workers-allowed-to-sue-scotland-based-tea-firm-over-workplace-injuries-1060477014.html
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After More Than 15 Years, Is There Any Justice for Unilever's Victimized Kenyan Workers?
12:26 25.09.2023 (Updated: 14:08 25.09.2023) In 2007, after local elections, scores of assailants invaded a Unilever tea plantation in Kericho, Kenya, and attacked hundreds of workers and their families with wooden batons and machetes, killing and injuring many of them. After the incident, tea-pickers accused the company of failing to protect them from the risk of ethnic violence.
London-based multinational consumer goods company Unilever will pay compensation to 77 tea-pickers who worked on its plantation in Kenya, which was targeted during post-election violence in 2007, according to UK law firm Leigh Day.
The solicitors' firm representing the workers said Unilever had agreed to make voluntary payments to former workers at its Unilever Tea Kenya subsidiary who were assaulted at the Kericho plantation. It was noted that Unilever identified those who missed out on the financial support it had offered at the time.
Kenya was plunged into crisis in December 2007 after President Mwai Kibaki was declared the winner of a
presidential election amid allegations of vote rigging. Violence broke out in several parts of the country.
Seven people were killed and more than 50 women were raped at the plantation in Kericho. The attacks fell along ethnic lines, with the Kalenjin attacking members of minority tribes, including the Kisii, who made up the majority of the plantation workers.
The plantation was temporarily closed after the attacks. According to Unilever, when it reopened, the company provided workers with financial support and necessary items to replace those that were looted, as well as medical assistance and counseling. Those who did not return were offered severance packages.
But the workers say that they have not been adequately compensated. Those who returned to the plantation said they received a sum of about £80 each, the equivalent of a month's wages, which was insufficient considering what they had suffered. A number of them have reported symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Representatives for the plaintiffs said Unilever's new payments are a continuation of the company's attempts to avoid addressing the workers' grievances, and that justice must be served.
"We feel strongly that what happened to [the workers] was wrong," David Roberts, a senior associate solicitor at Leigh Day, told media, adding: "The manner in which Unilever has responded to their complaints is an injustice that needs to be dealt with."
In 2015, workers and residents at Unilever's tea plantation filed a
lawsuit against Unilever PLC and Unilever Tea Kenya Limited in the King's Bench Division of the High Court of Justice in England. The lawsuit was filed in connection with violent attacks that occurred at the plantation in 2007. The claim alleged that Unilever Tea Kenya had failed to protect its tea workers from the risk of
ethnic violence.
The workers said that Unilever placed them, minority tribes, in a particularly vulnerable position by bringing them in large numbers to live and work on its Kericho tea plantation, where they were surrounded by a hostile tribe, particularly during elections when tempers run high.
However, the case was dismissed, with the court ruling that there was insufficient evidence that Unilever dictated or advised on the terms of its subsidiary's contingency plans, and therefore there was no jurisdiction over the UK-based parent company.
In August 2020, a coalition of NGOs representing 218 tea-pickers of the Kericho plantation filed a complaint against Unilever to the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights and the UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights. The ongoing complaint alleged that the company violated international
human rights standards by failing to provide adequate support to its workers.
