Camellia Public Limited Company (Camellia PLC) is an

agricultural Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled peopl ...

group of companies, incorporated as a

public limited company A public limited company (legally abbreviated to PLC or plc) is a type of public company under United Kingdom company law, some Commonwealth jurisdictions, and the Republic of Ireland. It is a limited liability company whose shares may be fre ...

, with seat in Linton, Kent in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. Camellia produces core crops like

macadamia ''Macadamia'' is a genus of four species of trees in the flowering plant family Proteaceae. They are indigenous to Australia, native to northeastern New South Wales and central and southeastern Queensland specifically. Two species of the gen ...

, avocados and tea and specialty crops like wine grapes and blueberries. The company has over 78,000 employees.

History

Camellia has historical roots in

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

Malawi Malawi (; or aláwi Tumbuka: ''Malaŵi''), officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northe ...

and

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

. The Camellia name was first used in 1964. In June 2020, 85 people living at and near a plantation operated by Camellia's Kenyan subsidiary Kakuzi took Camellia to court in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. The claimants alleged human rights abuses by Kakuzi security guards including murder, rape, violent attacks and unlawful detainments. The

Kenya Human Rights Commission The Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) is a non-government organisation founded in 1992 and registered in 1994. The Commission campaigns to create a culture in Kenya where human rights and democratic culture are entrenched. It does this throug ...

, the

Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations The Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO– nl, Stichting Onderzoek Multinationale Ondernemingen), is an independent, non-profit research and network organisation working on social, ecological and economic issues related to su ...

and Ndula Resource Center supported the claimants. The case was settled in February 2021, for a sum of £4.6 million. At the same time, Camellia settled similar allegations against its Malawian subsidiary Eastern Produce Malawi for a sum of £2.3 million.

References

Privately held companies of the United Kingdom Companies established in 1889 Human rights abuses in Kenya Corporate groups {{UK-company-stub