Neon Nettle
© 2023 Neon Nettle

Subscribe to our mailing list

Advertise Contact About Us Our Writers T&C's Privacy Support Us © 2023 Neon Nettle All Rights Reserved.

Nestle Sued for Running Child Slavery Operation Overseas from US Headquarters

Federal appeals court reinstates lawsuit from former child slaves

 on 30th October 2018 @ 1.00am
nestle is accused of running child slavery operations overseas from their us headquarters © press
Nestle is accused of running child slavery operations overseas from their US headquarters

Nestle is being sued by former child slaves for running slave labor operations in overseas countries from their headquarters in the United States.

A federal appeals court in San Francisco has reinstated a lawsuit against the world's largest food company, accusing food and drink conglomerates Nestle and Cargill of perpetuating child slavery at Ivory Coast cocoa farms.

The corporations are accused of running operations that involve kidnapping children and forcing them to work on cocoa farms for as long as 14 hours a day without pay.

The ruling described the plaintiffs as ex-slaves who were forced into slavery by the two companies that ran the operations from the US.

nestle and cargill are accused of perpetuating child slavery at ivory coast cocoa farms © press
Nestle and Cargill are accused of perpetuating child slavery at Ivory Coast cocoa farms.

According to RT, the judges said in a unanimous decision that the group could proceed with its claims despite the alleged abuses having occurred overseas.

“In sum, the allegations paint a picture of overseas slave labor that defendants perpetuated from headquarters in the United States,” the court wrote.

According to the court, the companies were “well aware” that child slave labor was pervasive in the Ivory Coast, and they had economic leverage that gave them control of cocoa production in the country.

The judges said they took the ex-slaves’ “plausible allegations” as true in analyzing the case.

“Defendants provided personal spending money outside the ordinary business contract with the purpose to maintain ongoing relations with the farms so that the defendants could continue receiving cocoa at a price that would not be obtainable without child slave labor,” the court said.

After the ruling, the US unit of Vevey, Switzerland-based Nestle said forced child labor is unacceptable and has no place in the company’s supply chain.

“We have explicit policies against it and are working with other stakeholders to combat this global social problem,” the unit said.

nestle is accused of running child slavery operations from its us based headquarters © press
Nestle is accused of running child slavery operations from its US-based headquarters

Minneapolis-based Cargill denied all the allegations, saying it was considering an appeal. 

“We will not let these legal proceedings deter us from working actively every day to protect human rights, with an unwavering commitment to treating people with dignity and respect in the workplace and the communities where we do business,” Cargill said.

In 2016, the world’s largest food maker Nestle admitted the possibility of slave labor in its coffee supply chain.

The company also said that it discovered forced labor in its seafood supply chains in Thailand.

The multinational is one of the most boycotted corporations in the world as violations of labor rights have been reported in the company’s factories in various countries.

Nestle became notorious over the baby milk scandal of the 1980s when it promoted and sold breast milk substitutes in under-developed countries in Africa and Latin America.

Share:
tags: Slave | Child Abuse
Steve Quayle Neon Nettle telegram

Facebook is heavily censoring information from independent sources.

To bypass internet censorship, connect with us directly by enabling our notifications (using the red subscription bell in the bottom right corner) or by subscribing to our free daily newsletter.

Get the latest news delivered straight to your inbox for free every day by signing up below.

SUBSCRIBE NOW

Subscribe to our mailing list

Follow Neon Nettle


PREV
BOOKMARK US
NEXT
on Nettle">BOOKMARK US NEXT on Nettle">BOOKMARK US NEXT on Nettle">BOOKMARK US NEXT