A team of defendants for Nestle, Cargill and Archer Daniels-Midland (ADM) was present at 1:30 pm today in Federal District Court #6 to defend themselves against allegations of trafficking, torture, and beatings of child laborers on West African Cocoa farms. This was the first hearing in the case introduced today as John Doe, et al., v Nestle S.A., and it seemed like I was not the only one there looking for more information. The judge started by making it clear that he wanted to use the hearing today to explore the positions of both sides and that he was in no position to decide anything today.

So, the two sides debated for over an hour three basic arguments; 1) What laws did they believe applied and were being violated in this case, 2) Whether this case was being classified correctly (civil or criminal), and 3) Whether this court had the proper jurisdiction to hear the case or whether it should referred to some international tribunal. Lawyers from both sides pulled arguments out that referred to laws dating as far back as the 1700’s with references repeatedly made of the Nuremberg trials, giving a weird feeling at times, like you were actually sitting in some scene of a hundreds of years ago, yet, unfortunately, it was all taking place today, in 2006.

I first heard about this case on Saturday February 4th, after receiving a press release on the subject. I was absolutely shocked to hear that something like child slavery and torture was occurring; and worst of all by a company like Nestle. Apparently, this just showed how naïve I was because after doing a little more research on the subject, I began to find out just how bad Nestle really is. This is not the first time they have received this kind of bad press. I just can’t believe that I have never heard about this stuff before. It really just goes to show that the media in this country is completely bought out by companies like this. I wonder how long it will be before the media reports anything about this hearing, if ever.

Learning about what Nestle was doing to children really struck a chord in me, so, since I am very close to Los Angeles, I thought I would go down to the courthouse today and get a first hand look at what was going on. I really had a hard time believing that something like this could happen. But apparently, the people from Global Exchange that were on the doorsteps of the courthouse protesting did not. They have been after Nestle for quite some time about this and related issues. It was in 2001 that the Harkin-Engel Protocol was first passed in which the US chocolate industry agreed to try to work towards ending illegal child labor. Well it has been almost five years and it is about time that we got some answers.

The timing of this hearing could not be more important and I really hope the judge makes some decision before Valentine’s Day. Since these three companies provide practically all the cocoa used to make chocolate within the U.S., it should have devastating financial repercussions for Nestle if this news were to get mainstream. According to Carlos Martinez, the spokesperson for Global Exchange, practically all our favorite candy bars, including those made by Nestle and Hersey, such as M&Ms, 100 grand, Butterfinger and Crunch, just to name a few, are made using forced child labor and in some cases slavery.

Although very little information is available at this point, I did hear the prosecuting attorney say that the case involves children as young as 12, 13 and 14 years old that were beaten, deprived of food and forced to sleep in their own urine. They went on further to contend that specific farmers used this child labor and that it was so obvious and pervasive that Nestle should have known about it and in some cases that they did specifically know about it. The judge concluded the hearing saying that he will look over the information and issue an order that will reflect the court’s tentative thinking as soon as they can. I can just imagine the kinds of thoughts that are racing through this judges mind.

I don’t know about you, but I would rather be safe than sorry so I plan not to buy any chocolate or any product that I think is associated with any of these companies. A list of Nestle products to boycott can be found here. Please join me in doing so. Remember too that you can't go wrong purchasing fair trade chocolates as well this Valentine’s Day.