Kenyan Women MPs Demand Justice for Victims of Sexual Harassment and Exploitation in Tea Plantations

The Kenya Women Parliamentary Association (KEWOPA) has demanded that James Finlays and Unilever/Lipton Teas take decisive action against those responsible for perpetrating sexual harassment and other human rights violations within the tea production value chain.

Following the "Sex for Work; the cost of our tea" documentary published by BBC Panorama and BBC Africa Eye, which featured shocking accounts of sexual exploitation, normalized sexual harassment, and rape culture in the tea production value chain, the MPs are calling on the Government through the Cabinet Secretary in charge of Labor and Social Protection, the National Police Service, and the Judiciary to ensure that the perpetrators are held accountable.

KEWOPA is demanding the reinstatement of women laborers who have been unfairly terminated after reporting violations. The women parliamentarians are calling for the arrest, investigation, and prosecution of those responsible for rape, sexual harassment, and exploitation in the tea plantations.

According to KEWOPA, there is a need for access to justice and a grievance mechanism that offers both judicial and non-judicial remedies for victims. The women parliamentarians noted that it is shocking that around 75% of women in Kericho County, working as laborers in British-owned tea estates, have been subjected to back-breaking labor, spinal injuries, sexual harassment, and rape from their line managers, team leaders, and supervisors for three decades, yet there have been no sanctions or consequences for the perpetrators.

"As members of Parliament, we condemn the atrocities, unfair labor practices, and human rights violations against laborers in the strongest terms possible," said KEWOPA. They want zero tolerance for sexual exploitation and harassment in the tea plantations and other labor sectors in Kenya.

The women parliamentarians have proposed a series of measures, including advocating for prioritizing the Government's Generation Equality commitments made in June 2021, ratifying and implementing the ILO Convention 190 on eliminating Gender-Based Violence and Harassment in the world of work by 2026 in close partnership with the private sector, and ensuring public and private sector institutions strengthen, implement, and finance evidence-driven laws, policies, and action plans to end gender-based violence against women and girls in all their diversity.

KEWOPA is also calling for scaling up the implementation and financing of coordinated survivor-centered, comprehensive, quality, accessible, and affordable services for survivors of gender-based violence against women and girls in all their diversity, including in humanitarian settings.