A lawsuit that sought to hold seven companies responsible for child slavery on Ivory Coast cocoa farms was dismissed by a federal judge in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday. The eight plaintiffs from Mali who brought the claim said as children they had been promised paid jobs on the West African farms but, once trafficked there, they were forced to work for free under the threat of starvation. The plaintiffs argued that Hershey Co, Nestle SA, Cargill Inc, Mars Inc, Mondelez International Inc, Barry Callebaut AG, and Olam International Ltd were liable for the abuse. But U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich dismissed the lawsuit, arguing that the plaintiffs did not prove a “traceable connection” between the defendant companies and the plantations where they had worked.
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