The BBC witnessed children picking jasmine in Egypt, a major exporter of the flowers’ oil.

Children have picked ingredients used by suppliers to two major beauty companies, the BBC can reveal.

A BBC investigation into last summer’s perfume supply chains found jasmine used by Lancôme and Aerin Beauty’s suppliers was picked by minors.

All the luxury perfume brands claim to have zero tolerance on child labour.

L’Oréal, Lancôme’s owner, said it was committed to respecting human rights. Estée Lauder, Aerin Beauty’s owner, said it had contacted its suppliers.

The jasmine used in Lancôme Idôle L’Intense - and Ikat Jasmine and Limone Di Sicilia for Aerin Beauty - comes from Egypt, which produces about half the world’s supply of jasmine flowers - a key perfume ingredient.

Industry insiders told us the handful of companies that own many luxury brands are squeezing budgets, resulting in very low pay. Egyptian jasmine pickers say this forces them to involve their children.

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    1 month ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:

    The UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, Tomoya Obokata, said he was disturbed by the BBC’s evidence, which includes undercover filming in Egyptian jasmine fields during last year’s picking season.

    Once the jasmine has been picked and weighed, it is transferred via collection points to one of several local factories which extract oil from the flowers - the main three being A Fakhry and Co, Hashem Brothers and Machalico.

    Lawyer Sarah Dadush, founder of the Responsible Contracting Project, which seeks to improve human rights in global supply chains, said the BBC’s investigation “reveals… that those systems aren’t working”.

    Givaudan, the fragrance house which makes Lancôme Idôle L’Intense, described our investigation as “deeply alarming”, adding “it’s incumbent upon us all to continue taking action to remove the risk of child labour entirely”.

    L’Oréal said it was “actively committed to respecting the most protective internationally recognised human rights standards”, adding that it "never request[s] Fragrance Houses to go lower than the market price for ingredients at the expense of farmers.

    We recognise the complex socio-economic environment surrounding the local jasmine supply chain, and we are taking action to gain better transparency and to work toward improving the livelihoods of sourcing communities."

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