Contents

Introduction.................................................................................................................................................2
Legal issue...................................................................................................................................................2
Child Right...................................................................................................................................................2
Court Decision and Legal Analysis...............................................................................................................3
Solution.......................................................................................................................................................5
References...................................................................................................................................................6
Introduction
A global producer of food goods is Nestlé. It has operations in more than 80 nations and has its
headquarters in Vevey, Switzerland. Condensed and powdered milk, baby foods, chocolate,
candies, instant coffees and teas, soups, seasonings and condiments, frozen foods, ice cream, and
bottled water are among Nestlé's most popular items. Pharmaceuticals are also produced by the
business.

Legal issue
Nestlé has had various legal difficulties over the years and has also come under fire for
exploiting child labor even as they work to end it. Additionally, Nestlé largely focuses its
reporting on its efforts to combat child labor rather than its defense against charges of doing so.
When Nestlé admitted to utilizing child labor more than ten years ago, big multinational cocoa
makers came under pressure. This is when it all began (Associated Press, 2012; Emmerson,
2012). The Financial Times reported on the following judicial matter, in which a judge found
Nestlé guilty of infiltrating anti-globalization organisations (Shotter & Lucas, 2013). In 2013,
Nestlé, Cargill, Hershey, and Mars were accused of procuring from farms that engaged in
horrifying exploitation, giving rise to a fresh charge (Stevens, 2013). According to The Guardian
(Clarke, 2017), the first significant case against Nestlé involving child labor didn't take place
until 2015. Nestlé was sued by three people who claimed to have worked on plantations by
Nestlé for whipping, beating, and forcing them to labor (Blevins, 2015; Clarke, 2017).

Child Right
Since the League of Nations, children's rights have been recognized internationally. The League
of Nations' special committee on child rights adopted a number of conventions. The "Declaration
of Geneva," which set forth the rights of children, was approved by the committee in 1924.
Instead of enforcing the children's rights, this proclamation established some obligations. For
instance, rather than expressing that the kid has a right to be safeguarded against such
exploitations, the declaration emphasized that the "child must be protected against every form of
exploitation." The General Assembly of the newly formed United Nations made efforts to adopt
a revised statement of the rights of children after the Second World War. The earlier declaration
(i.e., the UDHR) merely placed a moral requirement on the states to uphold the rights
acknowledged; however, the ICCPR (as a treaty) imposed a legal obligation on states in
accordance with international law. Thus, although it wasn't particularly for children's rights, the
ICCPR was a convention that required nations to defend the rights of their citizens.

The International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights of 1976 (ICESCR) and the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 1948 (ICCPR) were ratified by the
member states to give legal force to the obligations previously recognized. The UDHR was the
result of the rights acknowledged by the nations in the ICCPR. A separate treaty on children's
rights was thought to be necessary in order to give the Declaration on the Rights of the Child
legal recognition. CRC was adopted as a result, and this is covered in more detail in a later
section of the article. The treaty of Versailles (1919), which permitted the creation of the ILO, is
where the laws expressly pertaining to "kid labor" were first codified. The "abolition of child
labor and the imposition of such constraints on young people's labor as shall permit the
continuation of their education and assure their proper physical development" was one of the
ILO's key mandates. In 1919, the ILO passed its first child labor convention. Children under the
age of 14 are not allowed to work in industrial institutions, according to the agreement. Nine
sectoral conventions covering industry, agriculture, trimmers and stokers, maritime work,
nonindustrial employment, fishing, and subterranean labor were subsequently accepted. In the
form of "The Minimum Age Convention (no.138)," child labor was completely outlawed as a
result of its adoption in 1973. The "The Worst form of Child Labor Convention, 1999 (No.
182)," which completed the preceding convention no. 138, was the convention that came after.

Court Decision and Legal Analysis

According to a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, Nestlé and Cargill cannot be held liable for
child enslavement that occurs on the African farms from where they source their cocoa. Six Mali
males who were forced to labor on cocoa farms as children after being trafficked to the Ivory
Coast are named in the complaint. The prisoners claim that an armed guard kept watch over them
while they slept to prevent them from escaping and that they were made to work 12- to 14-hour
days. Their attorney contends that the two businesses ought to have kept a closer eye on the
circumstances at the farms where they got their cocoa. The plaintiffs also claim that because the
businesses train and assist their suppliers, they have helped and encouraged child slavery.

The Court came to the conclusion that since the abuse took place in another nation, the matter is
not within its purview. However, there were hopes that the Court would acknowledge and make
use of the Alien Tort Act (ATS), which calls for American-based businesses to be held
responsible for wrongdoing that occurs in their supply chain. "[We] remain unwavering in our
dedication to combating child labor in the cocoa industry," Nestle said in a statement denying
any involvement.

Slavery, forced labor, and child trafficking are persistent, major problems in the cocoa sector.
The International Labor Organization claims that working on a cacao field is exceedingly
dangerous and that many children are forced to work this perilous profession while being kept
apart from their relatives. A number of companies agreed to reduce the worst types of child labor
by 2020 when they signed the Harkin-Engel Protocol in 2001. However, one study discovered
that there are now more kids living in homes where cocoa is grown and working on farms.
Between 1.6 and 2 million kids are reportedly employed on cacao farms in West Africa.

There is a huge need for laborers because a lot of the farming of cocoa must be done by hand.
Deforestation, according to researcher Michael Odijie, is the primary driver of child labor. He
shows how deforestation causes production to fluctuate, which sharply raises the demand for
labor. When a plot of land used for cacao farming is full, the farmers move on to the next one.
Deforestation has resulted from this, and as deforestation grows, labor migration declines. On
such plots, farming is more difficult and requires more labor, but there is a shortage of both. The
increased demand for cacao and the pressure on prices are two factors that most likely contribute
to the change in farming. Notably, over the past ten years, both demand for and production of
cocoa have grown significantly.

Two things that are causing this problem are the growing demand and the need to keep prices
down. According to the NGO Food is Freedom, child labor is frequently used by cocoa growers
to keep their prices low because they do not make a living wage. They continue by highlighting
the crucial part that consumers play in this. They've compiled a list of chocolate brands they
advise consumers to buy based on where the cocoa is sourced as part of their Food
Empowerment Project.

In the end, the Nestlé and Cargill cases were upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. They are
immune from suit in the United States for wrongdoing that occurs in their supply chains abroad.
This is a setback for people attempting to hold powerful corporations accountable for the abuse
they profit from and enable, as well as for the six original plaintiffs in the complaint. Customers
should participate in the "buycott" movement by sticking with chocolate manufacturers who are
open about where their cocoa comes from.

Solution
Nestle, the world's largest food manufacturer, has more than doubled its cocoa sustainability
funding in eight years, including direct payments to African cocoa farmers to eliminate child
labor from its supply chain to CHF13 billion ($1.4 billion). A Swiss group said it focused on
poverty as the main cause of child labour. The company will be the first multinational food
company to pay farmers directly, starting with Ivory Coast and Ghana, the two largest producers
of the main ingredient, chocolate. The company, which has brands like KitKat and Aero, will
pay families up to CHF500 a year over two years, and then up to CHF250 a year until 2030.

The chocolate industry has been plagued by accusations of failing to address the use of child
labor in its supply chain. Cacao is mainly grown by smallholder farmers in tropical Africa, Latin
America and Asia, where children tend to care for cacao trees and pick the pods. The chocolate
industry is committed to eradicating poverty. However, child labor is still rife in many of the
poorest cocoa producing countries.

In Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana, which account for about 65% of the world's cocoa production, 1.56
million children, or 45% of farmers in both countries, are involved in child labor using cutting
tools and agricultural products. According to a 2020 study by NORC, a social research group at
the University of Chicago, Nestlé CEO Mark Schneider said.

Cocoa-producing families receive payments to send their children to school, to adopt good
farming practices such as pruning, and to adopt sustainable measures such as planting shade
trees. Payments are also made to those who intend their income through other means, such as
additional crops or livestock. A pilot scheme for 1,000 farmers in Côte d'Ivoire will pay families
for two years with increased productivity and income through training and good agricultural
practices. This year, the number of Ivorian farmers participating in the project will increase to
10,000. This will be expanded to producers in Ghana in 2024 and to other countries in 2030.

Nestlé said the payments would be "shareholder-neutral" because consumers would pay more for
sustainable products. He raised the price of some of his chocolate bars and pushed himself to run
a more efficient operation. Buying bulk commodities from multiple vendors makes it difficult to
separate unsustainably produced cocoa, and many chocolate farmers and cocoa traders are
looking to increase their direct supply. Nestlé is committed to sourcing all cocoa directly through
its supply chain by 2025, up from 51% today. Activists who have urged the chocolate industry to
pay more for cocoa to reduce poverty said Nestlé’s announcement was encouraging.

“[Direct payments] serve as part of a broader strategy to promote higher productivity and fair
payments for cocoa,” said managing director of the Voice Network, an umbrella group of 17
nonprofit organizations. He said he hasn't seen the broad impact of programmers yet, but added
that "in the future, all companies may need to do this." Supports farmers experiencing cocoa
price volatility as demand for chocolate fluctuates due to border closures due to COVID, some
cocoa farmers have been left without migrant workers, affecting production.

References
DanMangan. (2021, June 17). Nestle and Cargill Win Child Slavery Case at Supreme Court.
CNBC. Retrieved November 30, 2022, from https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/17/supreme-
court-rules-in-favor-of-nestle-in-child-slavery-case.html

Andrei, M. (2021, February 1). Why Nestle is one of the most hated companies in the world.

ZME Science. https://www.zmescience.com/science/nestle-company-pollution-children/

Balch, O. (2022, October 19). Mars, Nestlé and Hershey to face child slavery lawsuit in US. The

Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/feb/12/mars-nestle-

and-hershey-to-face-landmark-child-slavery-lawsuit-in-us

Ellingham, M. (2022, October 20). Nestlé pays to eliminate child labour from chocolate supply

chain. Financial Times. https://www.ft.com/content/43934be9-8e30-4555-ab89-

d6fdf0faace2

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. (2022, October 20). Nestle SA | History,

Headquarters, & Subsidiaries. Encyclopedia Britannica.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Nestle-SA