Eight children who claim to have been used as slave labor on cocoa plantations in Côte d’Ivoire have filed lawsuits against the world’s largest chocolate companies. They accuse corporations of aiding and abetting the illegal enslavement of “thousands” of children on cocoa farms in their supply chains.
Nestlé, Cargill, Barry Callebaut, Mars, Olam, Hershey and Mondelēz have been indicted in a lawsuit filed in Washington DC by human rights firm International Rights Advocates (IRA) on behalf of eight former slave children who say they were forced to work for free on cocoa plantations in the West African country.
The applicants, who are all from Mali and are now young adults, are seeking compensation for forced labor and additional compensation for unjust enrichment, negligent supervision and deliberate provocation of emotional distress.
This is the first time such a class action has been brought against the cocoa industry in a US court. Citing research conducted by the US State Department, the International Labor Organization and Unicef, among others, court documents claim that the applicants’ experience with child slavery is reflected in that of thousands of other minors.
Ivory Coast produces about 45% of the global supply of cocoa, an essential ingredient in chocolate. Cocoa production in West Africa has long been linked to human rights abuses, structural poverty, low wages and child labor.
A central charge of the trial is that the defendants, despite not owning the cocoa farms in question, “knowingly” took advantage of the illegal child labor. According to the communications, the defendants’ contractual providers were able to offer lower prices than if they had hired adult workers with adequate protective equipment.
The lawsuit also alleges companies that actively mislead the public in the 2001 promise to “gradually eliminate” child labor. The initial deadline for fulfilling the commitment, made part of the Harkin-Engel Voluntary Protocol, was 2005. The World Cocoa Foundation, an industrial body to which all defendants belong, now aims to reach the goal by 2025.
In the claim, all eight applicants describe that they were recruited in Mali by deception and deception, before being trafficked across the border to cocoa farms in Côte d’Ivoire. There, they were forced to work – often for several years or more – without pay, without travel documents and without a clear idea of where they were or how to return to their families.
Court documents claim that the applicants, who were all under the age of 16 at the time of recruitment, were working on farms in the country’s large cocoa-producing areas. The apparent influence of the defendants in these markets is described as’ dominant ‘by the applicants’ lawyer.
The trial claims that a plaintiff was he was only 11 years old when a local from his hometown of Kouroussandougou, Mali, promised him to work in the Ivory Coast for 25,000 CFA francs (34 GBP) per month. Legal documents claim that the boy worked for two years without ever being paid, often applying pesticides and herbicides without protective clothing.
The documents claim that another child named the applicant in the suit had visible cuts on his hands and arms due to machete accidents. Speaking of his forced labor experience between 2009 and 2011, he remembers being constantly bitten by insects. Like most of the applicants, he claims in the trial that he was promised payment after the harvest, but never came.
Many of the plaintiffs cited in court documents report that you have been fed little and that you work long hours. They often claim to have been kept alone or isolated by other working children who spoke different dialects.
During the fieldwork for this case, the applicants’ legal team said that they commonly found children using mock-ups, applying chemicals and carrying out other dangerous tasks on the cocoa plantations they produced for one or more of the defendants.
In addition to being morally repulsive, such child abuse is a “humanitarian disaster” because it contributes to the continuing poverty of Côte d’Ivoire, court documents show. The widespread use of child slavery is also credited by the plaintiffs for causing ‘long-term mental and physical trauma’.
The case documentation claims that the defendants are responsible for the development of the entire cocoa production system in Côte d’Ivoire. As key participants in this “adventure”, it is argued that they either knew or should have known about the “systematic” use of child labor.
The case is covered by the Victim Trafficking Authorization Act of 2017. The IRA is currently involved in a separate complaint under the Aliens Statute against Nestlé and Cargill.
In a statement, Cargill said: “We are aware of the filing and, although we cannot comment on this case right now, [the company wants] to strengthen ourselves, we have no tolerance for child labor in cocoa production. The children belong to the school. They deserve safe living conditions and access to good nutrition. ”
Nestlé said the process “does not advance the common goal of ending child labor in the cocoa industry” and added, “child labor is unacceptable and goes against everything we support. Nestlé has explicit policies against it and is adamant in our commitment to ending it. We remain committed to combating child labor in the cocoa supply chain and to addressing its root causes as part of the Nestlé Cocoa Plan and through collaborative efforts. ”
Responding to the news of the trial, a spokesman for Mars said: “We do not comment on any possible ongoing litigation.”
Mondelēz said he did not want to comment.
Barry Callebaut said he was committed to eradicating child labor from his supply chain by 2025. “Every year we publish the progress we have made on this goal in our Forever Chocolate Progress Report,” he said.
An Olam spokesman said the company has a zero-tolerance policy for forced or enslaved labor in their supply chain. “If we were to identify cases, we would immediately take measures that include notifying the competent authorities,” they said.
They were approached for comment.