When they enter the makeshift homes of the rural municipality of Guariba, in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil, on July 8, 2022, labor inspectors and the Brazilian federal police are seized by a pestilential smell. Dirt is everywhere, from the decrepit walls to the tiles strewn with belongings, while garbage cans pile up in the entrance. In a makeshift dormitory, worn mattresses are strewn on the floor, next to bare electrical wires.
The final report of the Brazilian authorities, to which The world was able to gain access, concludes that, on these premises, “eighteen workers live in accommodation and working conditions similar to forced labour”. One ” forced labor “ from which several European companies would have benefited indirectly, reveals our investigation. These sugar cane cutters worked in fact, with intermediaries, for Nova Era Bioenergia, supplier of the cosmetics giant Nivea in neutral alcohol, used in the manufacture of deodorants, sunscreens or for body care.
The German group Beiersdorf, owner of the brand, nevertheless affirms, on its website, “to ensure the safety and well-being of employees and people working in [ses] supply chains » and had its suppliers sign codes of conduct “which contain binding requirements for the respect of human rights”.
Alerted during this investigation, Beiersdorf explains that it has suspended its supply from the incriminated factory, pending the results of an investigation carried out by an independent firm. Nova Era Bioenergia had been Nivea’s supplier since 2014, manufacturing products primarily for the Brazilian market.
Numerous and old alerts
Other Western customers, with very detailed ethical codes on paper, were supplied by this manufacturer of ethanol obtained from sugar cane. One of them, Siegwerk, bought it to produce ink. The German company launched an internal investigation after it too learned from The world that its supplier was suspected of having used forced labor, without however announcing a suspension of its supplies. Another customer, the American producer of inks and pigments Sun Chemical, did not respond to our requests.
These supplies were made despite the numerous and long-standing alerts issued on working conditions or on the use of pesticides dangerous to the health of agricultural workers in the country. “Our embassy in Brazil has (…) identified twenty-one molecules used in this country for cane cultivation and banned in the European Union [UE] », can we read in a report co-written in 2021 by three general inspectorates (finance, ecology, agriculture) of the French administration.
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