L’Oréal defends its ethical practices after accusations of child labour in supply chain

Last week, The BBC World Service’s Eye Investigation team released its latest documentary 'Perfume's Dark Secret', which accused beauty giants including LOréal of turning a blind eye when it comes to child labour in the perfume industry. Since then, L’Oréal published a statement stating it is “deeply committed” to protecting human rights.

The documentary showcases children as young as five jasmine picking in Egypt for leading beauty brands including Lancome and L’Oréal. Despite zero-tolerance child labour policies, Estée Lauder, Lancôme, L’Oréal and Aerin Beauty have been named among those who engage in the jasmine trade in Egypt through suppliers such as Givaudan. However, after learning about the unethical labour practices, L'Oréal swiftly acted to ensure no children labour would be involved in the upcoming harvet, which the BBC chose not to include in its documentary.

In response to accusations, L’Oréal said it expects all of its suppliers to “act in a responsible and ethical way”.

The statement continued: “Thanks to our ongoing monitoring process, in October 2023, after the last harvest, and before the BBC reached out to us, we first identified potential human rights issues, including child labour.

“Consistent with our human rights commitments, we decided to take immediate action... As a result, since these potential issues first surfaced, we have worked to put concrete actions in place ahead of the next jasmine harvest in June.

“To drive systemic change in support of local communities – in order to eliminate child labour while protecting the livelihood of the families who depend on jasmine picking – we have been a key player in setting up a coalition in partnership with the Egyptian government, the Fragrance Houses and other industry partners.

“This coalition is being led by the Fair Labor Association and the International Labour Organization, as part of their flagship 'Harvesting the Future – Jasmine in Egypt' project.”

The beauty giant concluded that it was “very disappointed that the BBC chose not to include its concrete actions in Egypt, which [it] had already started to implement before [the BBC] first contacted [them]".