Smallholder cinchona bark farmers in South Kivu vs. Fever-Tree

Allegations

On 22 June 2026, six smallholder cinchona bark farmers in South Kivu, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, filed a complaint against beverage company Fevertree Drinks plc (known as Fever-Tree) to the UK NCP. The case concerns Fever-Tree’s supplier relationship with Pharmakina, which sources cinchona barks used to make quinine for Fever-Tree’s products. According to the complainants, Fever-Tree has not exercised its leverage over Pharmakina to ensure that Pharmakina’s debts to them since 2019 have been paid. They raise failures to carry out adequate human right due diligence over impacts to the local community such that Fever-Tree is now contributing to the harms, as well as failure to remedy those impacts. Among other things, they are calling on Fever-Tree to use its leverage to pay their debts, or otherwise for Fever-Tree to itself remediate the harms, and to improve its due diligence processes.

Relevant OECD Guidelines

• Chapter II
• Chapter IV
• Part 1
• Chapter II
• Chapter IV

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