This week marks one year since the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency (CBP) issued a forced labor import ban against doTERRA’s now-former supplier, Asli Maydi. Yet as this significant anniversary arrives, thousands of women and their communities in Somaliland continue to wait. In the words of one former frankincense sorter, “I want my justice.”*¹

The harms committed against the women and their communities are vast and well-documented through investigative reporting published by the Fuller Project, the Guardian, and Vice News. This reporting and additional investigations by Corporate Accountability Lab led the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency (CBP) to ban frankincense from doTERRA’s main supplier and close partner entering the U.S. The text of the import ban, technically called a “Withhold Release Order” (WRO), states that,

CBP identified the following International Labour Organization forced labor indicators during its investigation of [doTERRA supplier] Asli Maydi: deception, physical violence, abusive working conditions, intimidation and threats, and withholding of wages.

The legal structure for this import ban was written into U.S. law as part of the Tariff Act of 1930. The goal of the import ban is clear: to ensure that companies aren’t profiting from forced labor.  “Trading in goods made with forced labor is in direct opposition to American values. When goods are manufactured at the cost of someone’s health, safety, or freedom, we all lose,” said a CBP official commenting on the import ban leveled against doTERRA’s now-former supplier.²

Companies Have a Responsibility to Engage with Workers, Communities on Forced Labor

Unfortunately, forced labor is on the rise. The International Labor Organization (ILO) estimates that profits from forced labor are $236 billion annually. In a webinar hosted by Partners for Dignity and Rights, Anasuya Syam of the Human Trafficking Legal Center put that number in perspective: “Over a 10-year period, there’s been a 37% rise in illegal profits from forced labor. Companies like doTERRA and others mentioned on this call have contributed to that.” 

Syam continued, explaining that these abuses are not just an accident. Instead, forced labor is baked into too many companies’ business model. 

“DoTERRA and these companies stand behind this business model, which is clearly not working. So with these tools [such as import bans] we hope at least get to a point where they dismantle the business models that allow forced labor to flourish.”

While the text of the 1930 Tariff Act does not spell out how companies are required to address forced labor, Syam explained that the most recent guidance issued by CBP emphasized “how important it is to engage with workers and worker representatives and consult with organizations on the ground as part of a company’s due diligence and more proactive approaches to identifying forced labor risks” and determining suitable remedy for harms. 

Women, Communities in Somaliland Continue to Call on doTERRA for Justice

But so far, former workers for doTERRA’s supplier and their representatives say that doTERRA has not engaged with them adequately. In the words of Luul,

“They promised me regular pay. But I still don’t have any pay from them to this day. They promised us a lot of things. They promised opening shops, helping us out with health care, helping our children go to school. But we still have nothing to represent that to this day.”

These women, former frankincense sorters and community representatives, told of unpaid wages, commitments for food aid, schools, and healthcare, as well as systemic sexual violence, intimidation, and threats of retaliation – harms that add up to millions of dollars. And still Luul and the other women and their communities in Somaliland are waiting for doTERRA to remedy those harms.

It doesn’t have to be this way. As Syam explained, in other industries and countries, companies have responded in an appropriate, rights-respecting way to forced labor import bans. In Malaysia’s glove industry, for example, companies repaid more than $60.2 million in back wages and recruitment fees, a number that grew to more than $100 million as the threat of similar consequences prompted other companies to address forced labor risks. But, warned Syam, “we’ve seen voluntary measures simply have not worked” to halt forced labor and make systemic change.

Greenwashing or Real Action? doTERRA Has a Choice to Make

Yet it appears that doTERRA’s most recent step has been to adopt the sort of voluntary measure that Syam mentioned. In October 2025, doTERRA announced that it was joining the Union for Ethical BioTrade (UEBT), a multi-stakeholder initiative that sets ethical standards for botanical products.

Both Partners for Dignity and Rights and other human rights experts have previously criticised this model of voluntary ethical standards. In a decade-long study, the Institute for Multi-Stakeholder Initiative Integrity (MSI Integrity) found that most multi-stakeholder initiatives do not adequately engage workers and communities, or address and prevent human rights abuses. Instead, based on years of case studies and research, it’s ultimately our opinion that these sorts of voluntary ethical standards are more marketing than meaningful assurance.

When announcing that doTERRA was joining UEBT, Taylor MacKay, doTERRA’s Vice President of Strategic Sourcing, stated, “Our membership with UEBT perfectly reflects our values and deep commitment to Co-Impact Sourcing…” Yet for those of us who have expressed concerns about the situation in Somaliland and doTERRA’s legacy there, this membership does not offer strong assurances. 

The six minimum requirements for UEBT membership are only “checked at the level of the company when it applies for UEBT membership – these are not checked at the level of suppliers or in supply chains,” per UEBT’s website. These minimum requirements include “​​no evidence of ongoing or unresolved human rights infringement.” Yet, they do not apply to the supply chain–precisely the site where such violations would be most likely to take place. 

In the press release, MacKay continued, “From the fields where our botanicals are grown to the communities who cultivate them, we strive to be a force for good—striving to create lasting, positive impact through our ongoing commitment to ethical business practices.” Will doTERRA live up to those ambitions?

On the one-year anniversary of the forced labor import ban against doTERRA’s supplier Asli Maydi, the women and communities where doTERRA sourced frankincense continue to say, “I want my justice.” How much longer will doTERRA make them wait?

1. Quote from Luul Jamaac in a webinar hosted by Partners for Dignity and Rights. ↩︎
2. doTERRA formally cut ties with Asli Maydi in December 2023. ↩︎