6.1.2 News story

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On Tuesday, December 1st 2020, another years-in-the-making conflict played out at the Supreme Court, when the nine justices finally consider whether Nestlé and Cargill are responsible for the use of child slavery on cocoa farms in West Africa.

The case could potentially deliver a huge blow to the companies’ public images, in the face of mounting concerns over how chocolate is produced, as chocolate companies are among the defendants named in a lawsuit brought by former child workers in Ivory Coast.

Eight children who claim they were used as slave labour have launched legal action against the world’s biggest chocolate companies. They accuse the corporations of aiding and abetting the illegal enslavement of “thousands” of children on cocoa farms in their supply chains.

It is the first time that a class action of this kind has been filed against the cocoa industry in a US court. Citing research by the US state department, the International Labour Organization and Unicef, among others, the court documents point that the plaintiffs’ experience of child slavery is mirrored by that of thousands of other minors.

Ivory Coast produces about 45% of the global supply of cocoa, a core ingredient in chocolate. The production of cocoa in west Africa has long been linked to human rights abuses, structural poverty, low pay and child labour.

In their claim, all eight plaintiffs, all of whom were under 16 years old at the time of their recruitment, describe being recruited in Mali through trickery and deception, before being trafficked across the border to cocoa farms in Ivory Coast. There, they were forced to work – often for several years or more – with no pay, no travel documents, and no clear idea of where they were or how to get back to their families.