For Immediate Release
Wednesday, October 21, 2020
Contact:

Charity Ryerson, Executive Director, Corporate Accountability Lab
Phone: 317-850-7384; Email: charity@corpaccountabilitylab.org

18 Small and Mid-Size Cocoa and Chocolate Companies file Amicus Brief with the U.S.
Supreme Court in Favor of Corporate Liability for Child Trafficking
Brief Urges the Supreme Court to Uphold Ninth Circuit’s Decision Supporting Corporate
Liability Under the Alien Tort Statute
Today, eighteen small and mid-sized cocoa and chocolate companies filed an amicus brief in thecase of Nestlé USA, Inc. v. Doe. This was one of two briefs filed on behalf of chocolatecompanies in support of Respondents. The other brief was filed by Dutch chocolate company
Tony’s Chocolonely.
The amicus brief argues that corporate and aiding and abetting liability under the Alien Tort
Statute creates a level playing field for all cocoa and chocolate companies, allowing those thatsource slave-free cocoa to compete fairly with those that do not. The eighteen companies argue
they cannot compete with Nestlé USA and Cargill in the marketplace because their ethicalsourcing practices result in higher production costs.
“Free market competition without shared values regarding human life will always result inbarbaric treatment of those who have no voice,” said Kristi Wilson of Sweet Impact Chocolates.
“For far too long, the big companies buying cocoa have knowingly contributed to a system thatallows this to happen to children in the poorest parts of the world.”
Tom Rogan of Goodnow Farms explained: “We pay farmers what their cocoa is worth, whichallows them to earn a living wage. Because we do this, our chocolate is more expensive thanchocolate made by the big chocolate companies who pay artificially low prices for their cocoa.
As long as these companies continue this practice, we will continue to be at a competitive
disadvantage.”“We’ve all been conditioned to pay very little for things we want without thinking about why or
how they are so cheap,” said Shawn Askinosie of Askinosie Chocolate. “But we need to pay
adequately for goods like chocolate. You are being fooled by companies charging $1 for achocolate bar if you think it was produced sustainably.”Forced child labor is well-documented in the West African cocoa industry. While companies likeNestlé USA and Cargill have spent twenty years promising to eradicate child labor in their
supply chains, they have failed to do so. According to a Department of Labor report released thisweek, there are currently 1.56 million children still engaged in child labor in the West Africancocoa sector and the prevalence of child labor in agricultural households in the Ivorian andGhanaian cocoa sectors actually rose by 14 percent over ten years, from 31% in 2008/09 to 45%
in 2018/19. Over 90% of these children are engaged in hazardous work. Meanwhile, children
continue to be trafficked into Cote d’Ivoire and forced to work on cocoa farms for little or nopay.
“Since January 1, 1863, it has been the law in the United States that ‘all persons ... henceforward
shall be free.’ Allowing American corporations to knowingly purchase products that utilize slavelabor violates not only the letter and spirit of the law, but does irreparable harm to the sharedmoral and ethical values of our society,” said Brian Horsley of Marañon Chocolate.
While Petitioners and their amici argue that any investment, regardless of harmful impacts, incountries like Cote d’Ivoire is beneficial, it is clear that investments that lead to humantrafficking and forced child labor fail to improve living conditions or contribute to sustainable
development. In contrast, these eighteen companies have demonstrated a variety of ways toinvest in cocoa-growing communities in ways that promote human rights in the regions andimprove living conditions.
Charity Ryerson, Executive Director of Corporate Accountability Lab and counsel for amici, said
“Consumers and policy makers have been fooled by the inflated sustainability claims ofcompanies like Nestlé and Cargill for 20 years. These companies have failed to eradicate childlabor and trafficking from their supply chains on their own terms. Legal liability, and access toremedy for victims in particular, is necessary for meaningful, lasting change.”
Aloha Feels
Hakalau, HI
Alter Eco
San Francisco, CA
Askinosie Chocolate
Springfield, MO
Dark Forest Chocolate
Lancaster, NY

Dwaar Chocolate
West Bloomfield, MI
Enliven Cacao
Hugo, MN
Firefly Chocolate
Windsor, CA
Goodnow Farms Chocolate
Sudbury, MA
indi chocolate
Seattle, WAIsland Sharks Chocolate
Hilo, HIKokoa Kamili
Mbingu, Morogoro Region, Tanzania
Marañon Chocolate
Carson City, NVMeridian Cacao
Portland, ORRiver-Sea Chocolates
Chantilly, VA
Sweet Impact Chocolate
Kenosha, WI
Theo Chocolate
Seattle, WA
Uncommon Cacao
Berkeley, CA
Xocolatl Small Batch Chocolate

Atlanta, GA