Bringing lasting change in the Egyptian jasmine supply chain
Addressing the risk of child labour
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Jasmine, with its complex and sensual aroma, is a cornerstone of our perfumer’s palette.
It is sourced from regions where its cultivation supports entire communities, and, addressing the risk of child labour in agricultural supply chains remains a challenge, including within our own Egyptian jasmine supply chain.
In our efforts to align with our commitment to source all ingredients in a way that protects both people and the environment, jasmine is recognised as a priority ingredient in our Responsible Sourcing programme. Since 2019, through a combination of external audits, our own field visits, and additional educational programmes, we have been working with jasmine suppliers for greater transparency and to improve practices and conditions.
We recognise the need to create even greater impact and visibility on the topic, and have forged new partnerships to assess risk factors and increase supplier capacity. This reflects our own commitment to improving the lives of millions of people in communities where we source and operate, and forms part of an industry-wide collective effort to address these challenges.
Delivering rapid action in the field
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Delivering rapid action in the field
To address the main challenges identified, we have been in continuous contact with our suppliers remotely and during several field visits to support them in defining and implementing targeted actions.
A key focus was the continuous monitoring of supplying farms to identify and remediate any cases of children working in the fields in a timely manner, besides providing protective equipment to farmers, raising awareness on child labour prevention, and improving access to health services.
We have also engaged with external expert partners to provide further support to our suppliers and increase the overall impact in the supply chain.
Increasing our impact with expert partners
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Increasing our impact with expert partners
In 2024 we initiated a new partnership with Save the Children and the Centre for Child Rights and Business (CRIB). Together, we have undertaken dedicated projects in the Egyptian jasmine supply chain with our key supply chain partners, with a focus on providing guidance, risk assessments and field training.
As part of the collaboration, the Centre conducted a rapid child labour risk assessment, which was particularly important in furthering our human rights due diligence approach in Egypt.
Rapid risk assessments provide efficient ways of understanding risk factors associated with child labour and provide useful information about actions required to address them. Additional joint action included a review of our supplier’s management systems and an ensuing field training session. The sessions were designed to build the capacity of our suppliers on human rights due diligence and child labour prevention, and to provide recommendations on the existing supplier action plans. Fourtyeight supplier field employees attended the training sessions.
Through a train-the-trainer approach, our supplier field teams were equipped to educate partners, including collectors, farmers and workers, on child labour prevention. So far, our suppliers have trained 2,379 jasmine farmers and pickers. Through this collaboration, local consultants also shadowed the training provided by our supplier to farmers. This helps to identify areas for improvement and ensures successful implementation. Ultimately, we aim to roll the programme out to the entire jasmine supply chain and provide continuous training refreshers.
A new coalition for industry-wide joint efforts
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A new coalition for industry-wide joint efforts
In 2024, we also joined a new industry-wide project ‘Harvesting the Future - Jasmine in Egypt’ to help address challenges more broadly, and also develop concrete solutions that can be implemented quickly. This coalition is initiated by the Fair Labor Association (FLA), an international network that champions human rights in farms and factories worldwide, and the International Labour Organization (ILO).
The joint efforts to bring concrete changes include building strategies to promote fair compensation and economic resilience of families, which can eliminate one driver of child labour. They also involve strengthening child protection measures and improving children’s access to education, improving human rights due diligence systems at the processor level and generating support for legal and policy initiatives, including social protection measures.
In February and July 2024, as part of the joint efforts, the coalition carried out a two-phase joint Human Rights Impact Assessment in our Egyptian jasmine supply chain. The results of this in-depth assessment allowed our suppliers to develop and update their individual action plans to address both identified risks and recommended improvements.
Collaborative efforts for sustainable change
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Collaborative efforts for sustainable change
Teams from procurement, responsible sourcing, and social sustainability conducted a series of field visits across the supply chain. These included participating in the training provided to our suppliers by the Centre, reviews of supplier action plans, and assessments of child labour prevention efforts.
And we can not do it alone. Looking ahead, we see that removing the risk of child labour entirely requires the help of others. With the support of external experts such as Save the Children and the Centre for Child Rights and Business and through joint industry actions led by FLA and ILO, we are confident that we will be able to tackle risks and impacts effectively.
Together, we aim to bring about lasting change in the Egyptian jasmine supply chain.