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Dear Representative [NAME]:

As a constituent, I urge you to take action to stop corporate human rights abuses. Any corporation that sells its products in our country, or raises money on our stock exchanges, should be required to respect human rights. Profit should not come at the expense of people's lives or dignity.

America needs to be built on justice. Corporations that harm people should face consequences, just as individuals do. Take, for instance, Nestlé and Cargill. 

For decades, these two global mega-brands enabled and profited from slave labor on cocoa plantations in Ivory Coast. Victims of Nestlé and Cargill's abuse are seeking compensation in U.S. Courts--the case will be heard at the U.S. Supreme Court in December. 

Plaintiffs allege that they were trafficked to Mali as 12-14 year olds where they were forced to work as slaves on plantations that supply cocoa to the agriculture giants, enduring torture and work without pay. Both companies had exclusive buying contracts with cocoa growers, regularly visited cocoa plantations, and provided financial support, training, and farm supplies. According to the plaintiffs, the companies were aware that plantations in their supply chains used child slave labor.

Nestlé and Cargill hold enormous influence over the industry and could have stopped the abuse, but did not. 

Though both companies have since updated their human rights policies and strengthened oversight of their supply chains, they have never compensated the victims. A 2019 investigation by the Washington Post revealed that child labor remains a problem in the Ivory Coast. A recent report by the University of Chicago's NORC researchers for the Department of Labor found that child labor among agricultural households in cocoa-growing areas of Ivory Coast and Ghana increased from 31 percent to 45 percent between 2008 and 2019.

Now, the companies are trying to evade responsibility as victims seek to hold them accountable. The victims of these abuses have a right to seek justice. 

Nestlé and Cargill are not the only companies linked to atrocities like these. We cannot allow companies that use abusive tactics to operate with impunity.  We need binding legislation that holds corporations accountable for violating human rights and provides justice to victims.  

Please take action today to stop corporate human rights abuses.  

Respectfully,

[NAME]