Human rights lawyers are bringing a case against British American Tobacco (BAT) in the high court in London over child labour in Malawi’s tobacco fields. The incident has resulted into the United States pulling out of imports from Malawi.

Last Friday, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued a statement in which it announced halting tobacco imports from the country. Following the Human rights lawyers case, all Importers will have to prove the tobacco is not produced with labour prohibited under US law to have the shipment released.

The Human rights case against BAT follows findings from The Guardian, that revealed that Families are trapped in generational poverty while salaries at the top of the industry run to millions of dollars a year. “The (buying) companies say they monitor child labour and remove children from the fields to go to school, but experts have told the Guardian that the numbers are going up, not down, as tobacco growing increases in Africa and Asia.” said the report by the news agency.

The findings showed that Malawi, Indonesia and Mexico are noted to be practicing child labor.