The Baggebo bookcase, the Kullen chest of drawers and the Brimness bed: all these flagship items manufactured by Ikea, the furniture giant, have something in common. Until the beginning of the war in Ukraine, they were made in one of the world's most brutal dictatorships, Belarus.
After sifting through hundreds of accounting records, most of them public, and interviewing dozens of witnesses, Disclose can reveal one of the best kept secrets of the giant with the yellow and blue logo: the company reportedly took advantage - at least indirectly - of the low cost of Belarusian prisoners' forced labour. Our investigation shows that at least ten of Ikea's Belarusian suppliers - or nearly half of its main partners - had ties with penal colonies over the past ten years. These are forced labour camps that are particularly brutal, known for practising torture as well as food and healthcare deprivation, the exact opposite of the values flaunted by the Swedish firm. In its mission statement, the furniture giant guarantees to its customers that it does not resort to "forced labour" or "prison labour" to make its goods.
But then Ikea would need to check where items bearing the label "Made in Belarus" including those in its European stores, actually come from. When Disclose visited an Ikea store in Metz in March, and, a few months later, other stores in Strasbourg and Leuna (in Germany), we noticed on the shelves some pieces of furniture that could potentially have been tainted by Belarusian prisoners' forced labour
"Go Belarus"The romance between Ikea and Alexander Lukashenko's dictatorship officially started in 1999. Within some twenty years, the Belarusian state, which owns all of the country's forests, became the multinational's second largest supplier of timber after Poland and one of its low cost suppliers. This strategy, called "Go Belarus", reportedly enabled the multinational to treble its purchases in Belarus, with orders worth €130m in 2018 increasing to €300m in 2021, according to the Belarusian state news agency.
The crackdown on people and the brutality of a regime that executes those condemned to death by shooting them in the head, or that took the liberty to divert a Ryanair flight to arrest a journalist in May 2021, had no impact. Neither did the warning issued by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights Situation in Belarus. In September 2020, a few months after an unprecedented uprising in the country, Anaïs Marin denounced "the systematic violence inflicted by riot police and prison wardens in which thousands of innocent people are being held" as well as "allegations of rape with truncheons, electrocution, and other forms of physical and psychological torture".
Among Ikea's long-term partners who work with the Belarusian prison system, Disclose was able to identify textile company Mogotex. The firm, located in Mogilev, an industrial city in the East of the country, sews products for Ikea, including table linen, curtains and towels. Our investigation shows that Mogotex has reportedly worked with at least four Belorusian penal colonies.
Factory prisonLabour camp IK-15 is one of these partners, according to a camp document establishing an amount receivable in July 2021. "IK-15 is the land of sheer horror, where Lukashenko's henchmen do as they please," Tsikhan Kliukach told Disclose. Kliukach, 19, was detained there for ten months, between 2021 and 2022. His crime: he had taken part in a demonstration against the governement in Minsk, the capital.
He said political prisoners in the penal colony are the victims of particularly violent abuse: "Many political prisoners were beaten up, and so was I. We were not allowed parcels and letters or to have visitors. Many of us ended up in solitary confnement. I spent a total of 55 days there," Kliukach said. He added that those imprisoned on ideological or political grounds "had to wear a yellow sticker on their chest" as a sign of their "extremism". Last October, Belarusian NGO Viasna reported the presence of 94 political prisoners "employed " at IK-15 prison.
Tsikhan Kliukach, a former political prisoner at IK-15 penal colony (photo supplied by DR) The sign worn by Tsikhan Kliukach at IK-15 penal colony (photo supplied by DR)
Tsikhan Kliukach did not know if items made at the IK-15 factory prison were supplied to Ikea stores. But he said it would not surprise him. "There were rumours that the colony's products were exported to Europe," he remembered. He said he believes that "Belarusian firms that sell or use products from penal colonies should be under sanctions because using political prisoners' forced labour is tantamount to supporting dictatorship".
Ikea supplier linked to juvenile prisonIkea's subcontractor, Mogotex, also worked with the IK-2 juvenile prison. It bought material from them, according to a 2019 document establishing an amount receivable. The prison, located in Babruysk, a city of 200,000 in the centre of the country, is known for its methods, which are particularly degrading. So much so, that the name of the head of IK-2 was put on the list of people sanctioned by the EU between 2006 and 2014 because of the "inhumane treatment meted out to political prisoners" at the time. Recently, Lithuanian NGO Our House denounced the working conditions of IK-2 inmates who are paid "between 2 and 5 roubles per month " i.e. less than two euros. The average wage in Belarus was 1,637 roubles (623 euros) in September 2022, according to official data. Our investigation shows that at least six of Ikea's Belarusian partners worked with the juvenile prison between 2014 and 2019.
Satellite view of the penal colony IK-2 ©GoogleEarth
One of these partners is the Borwood group, the largest federation of state timber producers in Belarus. For instance, a Borwood subsidiary called Vitebskdrev used IK-2 prison to supply "planks of wood " as revealed by a 2016 document establishing an amount receivable seen by Disclose. Borwood took the trouble to certify that all its wood products meet Ikea standards.
Mix of Styles"Production from Belarusian penal colonies is an extensively developed economic sector, with firms set up within colonies," political science researcher Yauheni Kryzhanouski, also an expert on protest movements in Belarus, told Disclose. "These companies have websites that look perfectly ordinary apart from the fact that 'penal-correctional system production' can be seen in small print in a corner of the page".
Satellite view of penal colony Rypp5 ©GoogleEarth
Rypp 5 prison is typical of a system that openly mixes detention and forced labour. "We use natural, high-quality materials, and make a wide range of products," reads the prison website which boasts of its exports to Russia, France and Germany. In addition to finished products, the labour camp, which is divided into huts and manufacturing sites, offers "made-to-order products that take your specifications into account". Aerial views show a mix of styles: high surrounding walls, huts spread over one half of the grounds, and what looks like production hangars, with piles of unprocessed wood all around, over the other half.
It is a sign of the times: Rypp 5 has an Instagram account where pictures of local products are published. They are supposed to be an incentive for potential customers to place orders. There are gaping holes in these photographs: the prisoners who made these items. At least two political prisoners are currently detained there, according to NGO Viasna. One of them is Illia Dubski, 25, who is serving a five-year prison sentence because he reportedly left a voice message threatening a riot police officer.
Some of the pieces of furniture made at Rypp 5 are sold directly in Belarusian stores. Others are bought up by the Ivatsevichdrev company, a major state furniture-making firm and a commercial partner of Ikea's, as shown by 2017 accounting records. The company, one of the largest wood pannels exporters, had its timber products certified to prove that they meet the multinational's standards.
Ikea resorted to forced labour in GermanyLast March, shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine by surprise, Ikea announced that it was suspending its "exports and imports " from Russia but also from Belarus, Vladimir Putin's main ally in the war. The decision was reportedly made out of solidarity with the "millions of people affected ". However, given the information available, the Swedish firm should have ended its partnership with its Belarusian suppliers years ago. Especially given that there have been many warning signs over the past few years about links with penal colonies, including within the company. In 2021, several Ikea trade unions urged the company to stop trading with Belarus, calling for "independent inquiries into its suppliers in order to find out if they heeded human and labour rights".
Prisoners of the Bobruisk penal colony. ©Tut.By
Ikea, when approached for comment, said it reacted as early as "t he Summer of 2021" by making " the decision not to develop business in Belarus until further notice". About its suppliers' links to the regime's prisons, the Swedish firm dodged the question. " We do not have direct partnerships with the companies in question. If we get factual information from the media, NGOs, colleagues or any other organisation about misconduct, we always look into the allegation and take the necessary steps to rectify it".
The issue first surfaced ten years ago. In November 2012, Ikea had to acknowledge that it had resorted to political prisoners in the GDR in the 1970s and 1980s. The managing director of the German subsidiary said he was " deeply sorry" about these revelations. "It is not and never was acceptable to Ikea that it should be selling products made by political prisoners, " he said at the time.
Alexander Abdelilah & Robert Schmidt