British American Tobacco PLC and Imperial Brands PLC ask court to stub out Malawi

London’s biggest listed tobacco firms, (LON:BAT) and PLC () will ask the High Court in London to strike out a case relating to allegations that the companies exploited farmers and children in Malawi.

At a hearing due to take place on Wednesday and Thursday, both of the firms will ask the court to dismiss the watershed case, which was brought following a Guardian investigation into child labour in the tobacco industry in 2018, on the grounds that lawyers representing the families of the farmers cannot prove that tobacco grown by them was used in products made by either company, according to reports.

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The case has been joined by thousands of tobacco tenant farmers in Malawi, who allege that both of the companies are liable for negligence and have been unjustly enriched by systemic exploitation.

According to Leigh Day, the London law firm representing the Malawian farmers, Imperial and BAT are facilitating “unlawful and dangerous conditions” in which the farmers and their families have been “trafficked from their villages, have to build their own homes, live on a daily small portion of maize, work 6am to midnight seven days a week, and have to borrow money to be able to feed their families throughout the season”.

“As BAT and Imperial know, or ought to know, the farmers have no choice but to make their own children work from the age of three just to achieve the output needed to secure a marketable harvest…Their conditions of work amount to child labour, forced labour, unlawful compulsory labour and exploitation under Malawian law. They also breach the UK Modern Slavery Act, Article 14 of the ECHR and the International Labour Organisation’s Worst Forms of Child Labour and Forced Labour Conventions”, the law firm added.

“The heart of the claim is that two of the largest tobacco companies in the world cynically exploited impoverished tobacco farmers from Malawi and their children. It is hardly surprising therefore that those companies are at the High Court trying to block the claims getting to a full trial. Fortunately the two Defendant companies are based here in Britain giving our courts jurisdiction to adjudicate these claims. I am optimistic the Judge will see this manoeuvre for what it is and allow the claims to progress toward a full trial”, Leigh Day senior partner Martyn Day said in a statement.

Both BAT and Imperial have denied the allegations and said the farmers have no basis for alleging that tobacco grown by them was purchased by the companies or used in their products.

Shares in BAT were down 0.3% at 2,796p in mid-morning trading on Wednesday, while Imperial Brands was up 1.1% at 1,631p.