A human rights group has filed a lawsuit against some of the biggest names in the chocolate industry for allegedly trafficking children across national borders to harvest cocoa.
Eight Malian men claim they were victims of this child slave labor scheme, which involved their being recruited under false pretenses, trafficked into Côte d’Ivoire, and forced to work on cocoa farms without pay, travel documents, or any knowledge of when they would be allowed to return home.
Among the companies named in the suit are Mars, Nestlé, and Hershey, which together represent a bulk of the world’s chocolate supply.
“Enough is enough!” announced IRAdvocates Executive Director Terry Collingsworth in a statement. “Allowing the enslavement of African children in 2021 to harvest cocoa for major multinational companies is outrageous and must end.”
The class action litigation was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Also named as defendants are Cargill, Mondel?z, Barry Callebaut, and Olam.
The suit represents the first of its kind against the chocolate industry. Plaintiffs seek damages for forced labor, as well as compensation for emotional harm and improper supervision.
It is estimated that some 1.56 million children harvested cocoa in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana during the 2018-19 growing season. This is up from 14 percent in 2015. Of these, 1.48 million children are said to have undertaken dangerous tasks while working.
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Multinational corporations should not be using slave labor to reap windfall profits
Each of the defendant companies has long pledged to end the use of child slavery in its supply chains. Their deadlines, however, keep extending.
Back in 2001, many of them signed on to the “Harkin-Engle Protocol,” which promised to end child labor by 2005. Fifteen years later and that goal has changed to a 70 percent reduction by the year 2025.
“By giving themselves this series of extensions, these companies are admitting they are using child slaves and will continue to do so until they decide it’s in their interests to stop,” says Collingsworth.
“Based on the objective record of twenty years of the failed Harkin-Engle Protocol, these companies will continue to profit from child slavery until they are forced to stop. The purpose of this lawsuit is to force them to stop.”
While none of the companies named in the suit are directly responsible for child slave labor, they all continue to purchase cocoa from suppliers who do, knowing full well the implications.
The World Cocoa Foundation, to which all of the defendants belong, has spoken out against child slave labor, but tacks blame onto suppliers and the government of Côte d’Ivoire.
“The cocoa and chocolate industry has zero tolerance for any instances of forced labor in the supply chain,” World Cocoa Foundation President Richard Scobey said in a statement reported by Business Insider.
“The government of Côte d’Ivoire has a comprehensive legal framework in place to pursue, arrest and bring to justice those who traffic children or adults.”
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With the blame constantly shifting, the lawsuit seeks to hold the end manufacturers responsible, calling on them to take action for the benefit of child slaves, which we also know are being exploited to produce “green” technologies.
[I]n filing this new case, we want these companies to know we will use every possible legal tool available to make them stop abusing child slaves,” Collingsworth added.
“We call upon the companies to work with us [to] solve this problem, rather than spend millions in legal fees to fight an uncontestable fact – the cocoa industry is dependent upon child labor.”
You can learn more about the human rights abuses that are routinely overlooked or ignored by multinational corporations at Corruption.news.
Sources for this article include:
Will America-First News Outlets Make it to 2023?
Things are looking grim for conservative and populist news sites.
There’s something happening behind the scenes at several popular conservative news outlets. 2021 was bad, but 2022 is proving to be disastrous for news sites that aren’t “playing ball” with the corporate media narrative. It’s being said that advertisers are cracking down, forcing some of the biggest ad networks like Google and Yahoo to pull their inventory from conservative outlets. This has had two major effects. First, it has cooled most conservative outlets from discussing “taboo” topics like Pandemic Panic Theater, voter fraud, or The Great Reset. Second, it has isolated those ad networks that aren’t playing ball.
Certain topics are anathema for most ad networks. Speaking out against vaccines or vaccine mandates is a certain path to being demonetized. Highlighting voter fraud in the 2020 and future elections is another instant advertising death penalty. Throw in truthful stories about climate change hysteria, Critical Race Theory, and the border crisis and it’s easy to understand how difficult it is for America-First news outlets to spread the facts, share conservative opinions, and still pay the bills.
Without naming names, I have been told of several news outlets who have been forced to either consolidate with larger organizations or who have backed down on covering certain topics out of fear of being “canceled” by the ad networks. I get it. This is a business for many of us and it’s not very profitable. Those of us who do this for a living are often barely squeaking by, so loss of additional revenue can often mean being forced to make cuts. That means not being able to cover the topics properly. Its a Catch-22: Tell the truth and lose the money necessary to keep telling the truth, or avoid the truth and make enough money to survive. Those who have chosen survival simply aren’t able to spread the truth properly.
We will never avoid the truth. The Lord will provide if it is His will. Our job is simply to share the facts, spread the Gospel, and educate as many Americans as possible while exposing the forces of evil.
To those who have the means, we ask that you please donate. We have options available now, but there is no telling when those options will cancel us. We have our GivingFuel page. There have been many who have been canceled by PayPal, but for now it’s still an option. Your generosity is what keeps these sites running and allows us to get the truth to the masses. We’ve had great success in growing but we know we can do more with your assistance.
Thank you, and God Bless!
JD Rucker