ESG Enforcement Tracker
Charting the rise of criminal and regulatory enforcement
Share
Constitutional Court of Ecuador rules farm workers subjected to conditions of modern-day slavery
5 December 2024
Ecuadorian Penal and Labour Codes: The Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery 1956
Ecuador
Ongoing
Constitutional Court of Ecuador
Social
Furukawa Plantaciones C.A. (Furukawa) and Ecuadorian Ministries of Labour, Health, Economic and Social Inclusion, and Government
Key Facts:
In a landmark first corporate modern slavery case in Ecuador, the Constitutional Court held that more than 300 former farm workers were subjected to conditions that amounted to modern-day slavery. The workers were employed by Furukawa, a Japanese-owned company that operated abaca fibre plantations in the country.
The Court found that over a period of five years, Furukawa violated human dignity by forcing workers to live in overcrowded, unsanitary camps, denying them medical care, and exposing them to hazardous working conditions. In December 2024, following a complex and lengthy procedural history, the Court ordered that Furukawa pay US$120,000 to each of the 342 victims (totalling around US$41 million) and issue a public apology.
The Court also proposed several institutional reforms and called on the Ecuadorian state to apologize for its failures, which it has done.
Furukawa, however, has not complied with the Court’s order, on the basis that the financial penalties are disproportionate and unaffordable. The potential for appeal or enforcement action is unclear at this stage, but civic society continues to vocalise pressure through a movement organised as #FurakawaNuncaMas.
