Stay Connected
Atlanta Black Star/Politics/National
AfricaNationalNews

Supreme Court Blocks Dismissal of Nestlé Lawsuit for Using Child Labor and West African Slaves for Chocolate Production

Posted byBy Ricky Riley | Published on: CommentsComments (0)

30_nestleGeneva-based chocolate manufacturer, Nestlé, has been accused of using child labor to produce its chocolate and other food goods. The 72nd-ranked company on the Forbes Fortune 500 Companies list has admitted to the heinous offense.

Last year Reuters reported that the company confessed and was willing to clean up its act. This year the company is facing a major lawsuit for its human rights violations.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s refusal to dismiss a lawsuit seeking to hold Nestlé, the world’s largest food maker, accountable for using child slaves to harvest cocoa in Africa looks set to be a landmark battle over labor used overseas, according to Reuters.

The case starts in 2005, when the lawsuit was filed against Nestlé, Archer Daniels Midland Co and Cargill Inc. by former child slavery victims originally from Mali in West Africa.

“We have fought for a long time to bring accountability to supply chains and to bring redress for the victims,”said Abby McGill, campaign director from the International Labor Rights Forum. “Every time you eat their chocolate you are benefiting from child slavery. There is very little cocoa production that isn’t sourced in a bad way, and it will take a long time to change that due to the nature of large corporations.“

Last September, the Fair Labor Association found that Nestlé has been exploiting underage workers for years in the Ivory Coast of West Africa.

“The use of child labor is unacceptable and goes against everything Nestlé stands for,” the company said in a statement. “Nestlé is committed to following and respecting all international laws and is dedicated to the goal of eradicating child labor from our cocoa supply chain.”

The company also been accused of using slaves in Asia for fishing. Since last August, the company has had a slew of lawsuits that claim Nestlé has used free labor from Thailand. On November 24 of last year, the company confessed. Nestlé admitted that slave labor has been used to produce its seafood sourced from Thailand.

Hopefully, these most recent incidents will deter other companies from using underage workers to increase profits.

Still independent.

We hope this story was worth your time. For over 14 years, Atlanta Black Star has stayed Black-owned and independently run. We didn't get here by waiting on ad budgets that were never built to prioritize us. Our readers did that.

Corporate support for Black media has always been thin. Outlets like ours get roughly 1% of the $170 billion spent on U.S. advertising each year, and that margin is shrinking further as advertisers walk back the DEI-linked commitments they made in 2020. That's the backdrop. It's not why we're asking.

The wider picture isn't any steadier. Newspaper ad revenue has fallen more than 80% since 2005, and local newsrooms are closing at a rate of roughly two a week nationwide. When outlets go under, it's rarely the ones built to center a Black perspective from the ground up that get to stick around.

We know a request for support isn't why you came here. But without readers choosing to fund this work directly, the depth of reporting we can do at home and abroad shrinks along with everyone else's. If you're not in a position to give, that doesn't change how much we value you as a reader.

If you are able to, a recurring contribution does more for us than a single one-time gift, because it lets us plan the next investigation instead of just the next invoice. It takes about 30 seconds, no long form, no account. Thank you for continuing to support independent journalism and freedom of the press.

Give once Give monthly Support another way

Related Stories

Back to top