The U.S. Supreme Court rejects world's largest food producer appeal on lawsuit for child labor and slavery.
Swiss giant, Nestle, and two other companies, Archer Daniels Midland and Cargill, face legal complaints alleging the food industries to be guilty of using child slaves to harvest cocoa in Ivory Coast. The three have filed their bid to throw the lawsuit but to no avail.
As per Reuters news agency, the high court rejected the companies' appeal negating the class action lawsuit filed by former victims of child slavery.
The plaintiffs were allegedly victims of human trafficking who were forced to work harvesting and cultivating cocoa beans on farms in the Ivory Coast. The victims reported that they suffered physical abuse, were forced to work excessively without pay, and locked in rooms when they're done. They declared that the companies knew about the forced labor but failed to prevent the child slavery. This is thus holding Nestle and the two other food industries liable for violating international labor laws.
Patti Rundall, policy director at campaign group at International Baby Food Action Network, who has challenged Nestle's practices for over 30 years, has given a statement to The Independent on her appeal to end child slavery in cocoa production.
"Every time you eat their chocolate you are benefitting from child slavery," she said and added. "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."
Nestle has given their response on this issue through their website admitting, "no company sourcing cocoa from Côte d'Ivoire can guarantee they have completely removed the risk of children working on small farms in their supply chain."
Additionally, the company emphasizes that back in 2012 they have come to establish a monitoring and remediation system in farmer cooperatives to raise awareness on child labor and to identify children at risk. The company claims that they are the first cocoa buyers to have set up the system.
Abby McGill, Campaigns Director for International Labor Rights called the Supreme Court's decision "a step in the right direction for corporate accountability," as reported by DW.
Currently, several business groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, are urging the court to hear the case.
The case is Nestle Inc v. John Doe, U.S. Supreme Court, No. 15-349.
