IRAdvocates file second amended complaint in Nestle in an attempt to bring justice to former child slaves in West Africa
On July 14, 2016, six former child slaves who had been trafficked from Mali to Cote D’Ivoire, filed an amended class action complaint alleging they were forced to harvest cocoa for Nestle, Cargill and Archer Daniels Midland. This continues their nearly 11-year legal battle to establish that they have the legal right to sue these companies for knowingly providing substantial assistance to plantation owners in Cote D’Ivoire who systematically use child slaves to harvest cocoa for the international market...Paul Hoffman, counsel for the Plaintiffs and the attorney who argued Kiobel in the Supreme Court, stated “the allegations of these Plaintiffs should be sufficient to meet the new Kiobel test. The Plaintiffs allege that Nestle (USA), Cargill and Archer Daniels Midland acted to protect the system in Cote D’Ivoire from meaningful regulation to continue to benefit from low-priced cocoa for the U.S. market. In particular, the complaint alleges that key decisions to facilitate child slavery were made by the corporations in the United States.”...