In the Superior Court of the District of Columbia Civil Division

The legal document details a class action lawsuit filed in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia against major chocolate companies Mars, Incorporated, Cargill, Incorporated, and Mondelēz International, Inc., and their CEOs. The plaintiffs, including families and children from Ghana, allege that these companies failed to adhere to the 2001 Harkin-Engel Protocol, which aimed to eradicate the worst forms of child labor in cocoa production by 2005. They accuse the companies of repeatedly extending deadlines and neglecting commitments, leading to the continued exploitation and hazardous labor of children in cocoa farms. The complaint highlights the inadequate and misleading nature of the companies’ rehabilitation programs for child laborers and economic exploitation of cocoa farming families through rigged weighing scales and systematic underpayment. This legal action seeks redress for alleged violations of international labor laws and Ghanaian national laws, highlighting the plight of child laborers and economically exploited families in the cocoa industry.