Child labour rampant in tobacco industry | World news | The Guardian

Child labour rampant in tobacco industry | World news | The Guardian: Special report: the children working in the tobacco fields
Supported by
About this content

Sarah Boseley in Kasungu, Malawi

Mon 25 Jun 2018 06.00�BST Last modified on Mon 25 Jun 2018 12.58�BST
Shares
597

A 14-year-old boy at work on a tobacco plot in Kasungu district, Malawi. Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian
Child labour in tobacco is rampant and on the increase in poorer countries, a major Guardian investigation can reveal, in spite of claims by multibillion-dollar companies that they are tackling the issue.


Evidence from three continents shows how children aged 14 and under are kept out of school and employed in hard and sometimes harmful physical labour to produce the tobacco leaf that fills cigarettes sold internationally, including in the UK, US and mainland Europe.