Although slavery is prohibited in all countries, in September 2015, a lawsuit was filed against Mars, Nestlé and Hershey alleging that they were misleading consumers who were “unwittingly” financing the child slave labor business of chocolate in West Africa.
Children between the ages of 11 and 16 (sometimes even younger) are locked up in isolated plantations, where they work 80 to 100 hours a week.
At the beginning of the 21st century, the documentary Slavery: A Global Investigation (Slavery: A Global Investigation) interviewed children who were freed from cocoa plantations in that region of the world, who described how they were frequently beaten with belts and whips; as part of an investigation into the issue around the world.
“Beatings were a part of my life”, said Aly Diabate, one of these freed children. “Whenever you were loaded with sacks (of cocoa beans) and you fell while carrying them, no one helped you. Instead, you were beaten and beaten until you got up again.”
In 2001, the FDA (the United States government agency responsible for food regulation) wanted to pass legislation to apply the "slave free" label to packaging labels.
Before the legislation was voted on, the chocolate industry – including Nestlé, Hershey and Mars – used its money to stop it, promising to end child slave labor in their companies by 2005.
This deadline has since been repeatedly pushed back, with the current target being 2020. Meanwhile, the number of children working in the cocoa industry increased by 51% between 2009 and 2014, according to a June 2015 report from Tulane University.
As one of the freed children said, “You are enjoying something that was made with my suffering. I worked hard for you, without any benefit. You are eating my flesh.”
The chocolate brands under investigation for using cocoa derived from child slave labor are:
Hershey
Mars
Nestlé
ADM Cocoa
Godiva
Fowler's Chocolate
Kraft
The US Supreme Court recently rejected a joint proposal by Nestlé, Archer Daniels Midland and Cargill who intended dismiss the complaint, based on a Supreme Court ruling that prevents plaintiffs from filing a claim if the crime was committed outside the country's borders.
EN 
ES_ES