The International Rights Advocates (IRA), a human rights firm, has filed a lawsuit in Washington DC against major chocolate internationals Nestlé, Cargill, Barry Callebaut, Mars, Olam, Hershey and Mondelēz, following allegations concerning 8 young Malians who say they were forced to work on cocoa plantations in Côte d'Ivoire when they were children (the events took place between 2000 and 2010).
Terry Collingsworth, executive director of the IRA, is backing up the case with the U.S. 2017 Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, which is supposed to protect victims of trafficking. While the companies cited in the case do not own the cocoa plantations, Terry Collingsworth argued that they “knew or should have known” that children were working there, without even being paid, thus making it possible to buy cheap raw materials for making chocolate.
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