International Rights Advocates and representatives of numerous families have initiated a class action – in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, on November 28, 2023, against the three giants Mars, Cargill and Mondelez – for the abuse of children and minors between the ages of six and sixteen on the cocoa plantations in Ghana. (1)
Exploitation of child labor with exposure of minors to dangerous pesticides and herbicides without personal protective equipment. Will the annual reports on the alleged 'sustainability' of Big Food be enough to overcome the evidence deduced by the offended parties? The 'due diligence' balance sheets on ESG criteria, at the very least, will have to report what emerges.
1) Cocoa child abuse, the class action in the USA against Mars, Cargill and Mondelez
The class action is open to 'all individuals who in the period from 29 November 2020 to today reside or have resided in the country of Ghana, in West Africa, and who have carried out the worst forms of child labor as defined by the ILO (International Labor Organization) Convention no. 182,999, [2] including the use of dangerous tools or the application of chemical pesticides and herbicides, such as children under the age of 16 years on any farm and/or farmers cooperative within any cocoa producing region of Ghana'. With the specific objective of protecting minors'who still work on the cocoa plantations of the three defendant companies and their parents'.
The prosecution claims that the three giants Mars, Cargill and Mondelez have subjected children to 'inhumane working conditions. They are forced to apply toxic pesticides without protective equipment, in violation of ILO Convention No 182/1999 and the Ghana Children's Law (1998). [3] The complainants therefore demand compensation for the damage to health caused by daily exposure to pesticides without equipment: headaches, vomiting, dizziness. Since most of the affected children are female, they also highlight the potential damage to their reproductive system'.
2) Neocolonialism, child exploitation and deception of consumers
Numerous investigations showed the abuses by Big Food of 'cocoa children' in West Africa – as well as those exploited by Ferrero for hazelnuts in Turkey and palm oil in South East Asia, as well as 'Nespresso coffee children' in Guatemala – as seen (4,5,6,7,8). The neocolonialism continues, although the first eight giants of the chocolate industry (including Mars, Cargill and Mondelez) had signed the 'Harkin-Engel Protocol' in 2001, pledging to put an end to the 'Worst Forms of Child Labour' by 2005, in compliance with the ILO Convention of the same name.
The deceptions perpetrated by Big Food against consumers - in presenting food products as 'sustainable', perhaps even through completely unreliable private certifications (9) - can at least be sanctioned, in countries where class action works. (10) International Rights Advocates therefore acted in the USA, pursuant to the District of Columbia Consumer Protection Procedures Act (DCCPPA), (11) accusing the three Corporations of having falsely advertised to consumers their commitment to the fight against child labour.
3) Slavery and torture
The size of the problem – which also concerns other giants of the cocoa and chocolate industries registered with the World Cocoa Foundation (WCF), including Nestlé and Hershey's – is well represented in a large and documented publication by the Food Empowerment Project, which is recommended reading for further information . (12)
Only in Ghana and Ivory Coast, approximately 2,1 million children are exposed to the worst conditions of exploitation, which include illicit trafficking, slavery and torture of minors even arriving from the poorest countries in West Africa, including Burkina Faso and Mali. Added to these are at least 8.000 minors exploited and enslaved in Brazil and Central America.
4) Accusations and requests in court in the USA
The accusations towards Big Food are proportionate to the seriousness of the events reported. In addition to violating the DCCPPA, Mars, Cargill and Mondelez will have to answer for:
- having inflicted suffering on children, intentionally, through neglect of supervision of the inhumane working conditions to which they were forced on the plantations of global cocoa giants;
- unjust enrichment and theft, since the cocoa prices agreed by the Corporations with the Ghanaian government are too low to guarantee 'food security' and the basic needs of the workers.
The requests in court therefore include compensation for all children and their parents, 'for the damages suffered as a result of the inhumane working conditions to which they are subjected, including the loss of the possibility of school education and professional opportunities, as well as for the mental and physical suffering suffered as a result of being forced to work in such conditions. A jury trial is required'.
5) European Union. Deforestation Regulation, shared responsibilities
Land grabbing, rape and violence, child exploitation are systematic in the palm oil and soya, cocoa and coffee supply chains, as GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade) has always reported. (13). Deforestation Regulation (EU) No 2023/1115, already in force, also requires operators of the aforementioned supply chains and some others (i.e. cattle, timber, rubber) to make a 'due diligence' declaration which includes respect for fundamental human rights, including workers rights. (14)
The operators that become aware of ‘new relevant information, including substantiated indications, indicating a risk of non-compliance' the authorities of the Member States where the products were marketed and the operators downstream of the supply chain have a duty to inform the DR requirements, who are in turn responsible for verifying compliance with the due diligence declaration (Deforestation Regulation EU No 2023 /1115, article 4.5).
6) Change course, that's how
Deforestation Regulation provides for the adoption of corrective measures on non-compliant products - immediate withdrawal or recall with donation order for charitable or public interest purposes - and above all sanctions equal to or greater than 4% of the operator's turnover. It is time to demand its application, also starting from the information and evidence that will emerge in the trial in the USA. against Mars, Cargill and Mondelez.
'Fair Trade' should always constitute the prerequisite of 'free trade', fundamental human rights and the 'United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child' (1989) the pre-condition for the exercise of any activity in the 196 countries that have signed it (15,16 ,17). While waiting for the current rules to be seriously applied, it is certainly useful to favor certified 'fair trade' and organic supply chains, in the hope of saving as many people from exploitation and poisons. (XNUMX)
#Égalité, #egalite
Dario Dongo
Cover image by Brian Woods and Kate Blewet. Slavery: A Global Investigation. True Vision TV, 2000 http://tinyurl.com/axpw94zj
'When people eat chocolate, they are eating my flesh' (Dressa, little girl freed from slavery on the cocoa plantations in Ivory Coast, West Africa)
Footnotes
(1) International Rights Advocates. Class complaint for injunctive relief and damages. Superior Court of the District of Columbia, Civil Division. Case No. 2023-CAB-007264. http://tinyurl.com/2htzhand
(2) Worst Forms of Child Labor Convention No 182, 1999. ILO (International Labor Organization) http://tinyurl.com/2w4j9vej
(3) Ghana Children's Act, 1998 (No. 560) http://tinyurl.com/ybxjwj5n
(4) Dario Dongo, Jessica Trombin. The cocoa children. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).
(5) Dario Dongo, Giulia Caddeo. Cocoa, deforestation and child labor. Big Food asks for an EU regulation. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).
(6) Dario Dongo, Guido Cortese. Ferrero, hazelnuts and child labor. BBC investigation into Turkey. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).
(7) Marta Strinati, Dario Dongo. USA, the Girl Scouts against Ferrero cookies. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).
(8) Dario Dongo. Nespresso. B-Corp certification and human rights and environmental abuses. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).
(9) Marta Strinati, Dario Dongo. Palm oil, soy, wood, coffee, cocoa. What is sustainability certification for? Greenpeace report. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).
(10) Not so in the European Union, as its institutions have allowed member states to introduce serious obstacles to the filing of class actions
(11) Code of the District of Columbia. Chapter 39. Consumer Protection Procedures http://tinyurl.com/2s3j4u45
(12) CHILD LABOR AND SLAVERY IN THE CHOCOLATE INDUSTRY. Food Empowerment Project http://tinyurl.com/2xux4tw6
(13) Dario Dongo. Brazil, land grabbing and deforestation for 'sustainable' palm oil from Ferrero and Big Food. Open letter. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).
(14) Dario Dongo. Deforestation Regulation. Due diligence on critical raw materials begins. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).
(15) Dario Dongo. UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, 30 years without a solution. Égalité. 17.11.19
(16) Dario Dongo, Giulia Baldelli. Fair trade, ABC. The Christmas we would like every single day. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).
(17) Dario Dongo, Alessandra Mei. Fairtrade International. Due diligence, human rights and ESG. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
