“We give our blood so they live comfortably”

Tea companies have a responsibility to the communities they profit from and the environment in which they operate. As consumers, our choices are intrinsically linked to the world around us.

From 1815 to 1948 Sri Lanka was a British colony, and its colonial planters enriched themselves off of Ceylon tea from plantations using Tamil indentured laborers brought over from South India. Even after British rule ended, tea plantations and their respective estates remained under the same ownership until 1972. Under their rule, control was exerted over school systems, intentionally preventing children from completing their education – keeping them trapped on tea plantations.

Today, tea plantations are run by companies that lease land from the government. Their schools remain underfunded compared to the national Sri Lankan education system, with declining resources and high dropout rates. Cycles of exploitative violence continue, with communities reporting high rates of abuse, underpaid child labor, wage theft, and even forced labor.

Tea plantation workers are often denied payment, with 44% of families in tea estate areas remaining food insecure despite working long and harsh hours. “If we work 22 or 23 days, because of all the cuts we only get about 15, 16 days’ worth of pay. And then when they cut everything… they give us, there’ll be no salary left”, one tea plantation worker recounts.

Investing in communities and empowering workers is key to combating abuse, exploitation, and labor trafficking. Youth Voice International, partners of the International Coalition Against Modern Slavery, have conducted extensive research on the conditions of youth on Sri Lankan tea plantations, and how the lack of education access resulting from colonial rule continues to perpetrate the same cycles of exploitation. Currently, we are working with them to raise money for their plans to expand the capacity of their local school. Their proposed changes would ensure Tamil youth growing up on tea plantations in their community would have the opportunity to complete their education, which is key to reducing vulnerability to labor trafficking and other forms of abuse.

Learn more about forced labour at tea plantations using these resources