Nestlé shielded from cocoa slavery claim in US by Supreme Court     

Court rejected accusations that Nestlé in the US and Cargill were complicit in the use of child slavery on Ivory Coast cocoa farms.

Six individuals from Mali say they were trafficked into Ivory Coast to make cocoa as child slaves and sought to hold the US companies liable for those alleged abuses, saying major decisions about those operations were made in the US. 

The US Supreme Court gave companies a broader shield against lawsuits by victims of overseas atrocities, rejecting accusations that Nestlé in the US and global food corporation Cargill were complicit in the use of child slavery on Ivory Coast cocoa farms.

The justices said the allegations against the companies lacked enough of a US connection to go forward under the 1789 Alien Tort Statute.