Nestlé, Cargill and ADM face child slavery case
Three Malian men have won the right to bring their civil child slavery case against Nestlé, Cargill and Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) to Californian courts. The cocoa suppliers and manufacturer are accused of aiding and abetting the luring of the men across the border from Mali to the Ivory Coast in the 1990s, where the then children worked unpaid on cocoa farms which supplied the companies in question…In December last year, a US appeals court ruled that the corporations could face liability for claims bought under the Alien Tort Statute…Cargill is committed to working towards a cocoa supply chain where no children are subject to dangerous or forced working conditions…Nestlé [said]…that all allegations remained unproven…[and that] the court was correct in its 2010 dismissal of the case…ADM [said]…it disagreed with the decision…The case has thrown up questions surrounding supply chain traceability and responsibility…