On 12 February 2021, human rights group International Rights Advocates filed a federal class action lawsuit against seven chocolate companies, including Mars, Nestlé, Hershey, and Olam. The plaintiffs, eight former child slaves from Mali, claim they were trafficked into Ivory Coast to work long hours on cocoa farms with no salary, inadequate food, and hazardous working conditions. The case was filed under the 2017 Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorisation Act, which allows for survivors of forced labour and trafficking to sue companies that benefit from said trafficking or forced labour. 

Several of the defendants have responded to the suit, iterating their commitment to the elimination of child labour. A spokesperson from Cargill commented that “our resolve to address this has never been stronger and we are accelerating our efforts to address the root causes of child labour”. Similarly, Nestlé cited its policies to combat child labour, stating that “child labour is unacceptable and goes against everything that we stand for”. Mars and Mondelēz declined to comment.

The case is not the first to be filed against Nestle and Cargill by International Rights Advocates. In 2005, they advocated for six former child slaves under the Alien Tort Statute, a case that was argued in the United States Supreme Court in December 2020 but is still pending. The plaintiffs alleged that the companies abetted human rights abuses by purchasing cocoa beans from Ivory Coast with the knowledge that child labour is widespread there.

THE FAILING LEGACY OF THE HARKIN-ENGEL PROTOCOL

The 2021 case comes after long-standing controversy and debate about child labour within the cocoa industry. In 2001, members of the cocoa industry - including big brands Nestlé, Mars, and Hershey - signed the Harkin-Engel Protocol, an agreement to eliminate abusive child labour in cocoa production by 2005. Despite this promise, the deadline has been pushed back, and the companies now aim to reduce child labour by 70% by 2025, 20 years later than the original deadline.

One of the main problems in implementing change is that chocolate companies cannot identify where all of the cocoa used in their products is grown. The Washington Post revealed that Nestlé and Mars can only trace 49% and 24% of their cocoa back to its sources respectively.

In a press release, Terry Collingsworth, Executive Director of International Rights Advocates commented that;

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. 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.

THE LONGSTANDING HISTORY OF CHILD LABOUR IN IVORY COAST

Over the twenty years that have passed since the Harkin-Engel Protocol, the number of children involved in growing cocoa has remained rife in both Ghana and Ivory Coast. A 2011 report published by the United States government found that 1.8 million children in west Africa worked in the cocoa-growing sector, with many at risk of injury or illness from machetes or the use of pesticides.

A similar study conducted by Tulane University stated that of the 1,303,009 children ages 5-17 working in cocoa production in Ivory Coast in the period 2013-2014, an astonishing 37% suffered wounds or cuts while engaging in agricultural work. 19% of children also experienced insect bites, whilst 11% reported muscle pains. As of 2020 these figures remain bleak, with an estimated 1.56 million children across Ghana and Ivory Coast working in cocoa production, 43% of whom are performing hazardous work.

2021: INTERNATIONAL YEAR FOR THE ELIMINATION OF CHILD LABOUR 

The eight plaintiffs of the current case are represent only a fraction of the number of victims of child labour. According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), child labour has decreased by 38% in the last decade, but 152 million children are still in child labour - a total of 1 in 10 children worldwide. ILO have named 2021 as the International Year for the Elimination of Child Labour in an effort to accelerate action and achieve UN Sustainable Development Target 8.7, which aims to eliminate forced labour, modern slavery, and end child labour of all forms by 2025.  

Making small personal choices - particularly in ethical consumption and committing to buying Fairtrade products where possible - can contribute to positive change and the elimination of child labour. Nevertheless, if sustainable development goals are to be met, this change also relies on the cooperation and commitment of big brand companies that must work to reform the chocolate industry with immediate action.

Alice Berkeley is a Religions and Theology with Middle Eastern Studies graduate from the University of Manchester. She has a specific interest in refugee and worker's rights, women’s issues and the MENA region.

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