A multi-country snapshot of labor exploitation in palm oil—from Malaysia to Guatemala—revealing risks often overlooked in sustainability debates.
This concise report highlights widespread labor and human rights abuses within palm oil production across Malaysia, Indonesia, Guatemala, and Ecuador. It finds migrant and local workers facing debt, isolation, child labor, long hours, wage theft, and, in some cases, physical danger. Field research details conditions on plantations—passport confiscation, deceptive recruitment, and hazardous pesticide exposure—and the displacement of rural communities. Through vivid case studies, it calls attention to the human cost behind a global commodity and urges stronger due diligence, fair recruitment, and labor protections in the palm oil supply chain.
Humanity United, Palm Oil, Human trafficking
