Brilio.net/en - It makes me cough and itchy in the throat. Thats how the gut-wrenching video opens, with the voice of a 14-year old tobacco farmer working in the fields on Indonesia. According to a report released at the end of May, many of the workers suffer from nicotine poisoning and are exposed to dangerous pesticides. Further still, many of these workers are children, as young as seven.
The report, which was published by the Human Rights Watch, said that many of the children suffer terrible symptoms, such as dizziness, vomiting, and chronic headaches. All of these are signs that nicotine has seeped into their systems and is slowly poisoning them.
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Kids are handling tobacco in their bare hands, and it can soak into the skin, Margaret Wurth, a childrens rights researcher for the Human Rights Watch and one of the reports authors, said in an interview in Jakarta before its release. According to the laws, children between the ages of 13 and 15 are allowed to do light labour when they are not in class, however the report found that kids as young as 8 were working as labourers.
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The report wants to call on the companies who are buying the tobacco to put a ban on buying from companies that employ children. Its a huge problem because most multinational brands dont trace their tobacco, especially when they purchase it locally at the open markets.
As Indonesia is the worlds fifth largest tobacco producer, its crucial that regulations be implemented soon. Indonesia has been in the news in recent months for other agricultural issues, namely the illegal deforestation due to companies producing palm oil.
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Most of the tobacco farms are family led and run. While that offers some benefits, it also means that there has been little to no education of proper treatment or training for their health. According to Ms. Wurth, most of the children and adult dont even go to to the clinics when they get sick, making it difficult to determine a number of people impacted by the low standards of the tobacco farms. They could be as high as in the tens of thousands.
Human Rights Watch said it had shared its findings with 13 Indonesian and multinational tobacco companies operating in Java, the central location for the tobacco industry in Indonesia, and that 10 had replied. None of the Indonesian companies gave a detailed response, and two did not respond to repeated inquirie at all. This makes it even more important that the people and the media share this issue so it is able to get the attention it deserves!