Scandal of minors who are miners: Tech firms accused over child labour

Tech majors including Apple, Samsung and Sony have been accused of using cobalt mined by child labourers in Congo. Amnesty International also said the companies had failed to carry out basic checks on the source of the materials used in their products. According to the report, human rights abuses in the Democratic Republic of the Congo power the global trade in cobalt, the London-based rights group said cobalt used in lithium-ion batteries that power many devices came from mines in which children as young as seven years work in dangerous condition. "Millions of people enjoy the benefits of new technologies but rarely ask how they are made. It is high time the big brands took some responsibility for the mining of the raw materials that make their lucrative products,“ says Mark Dummett, business and human rights researcher at Amnesty International.

The glamorous shop displays and marketing of state-of-the-art technologies are a stark contrast to the children carrying bags of rocks, and miners in narrow manmade tunnels risking permanent lung damage.

Mark Dummett, at Amnesty International

The DRC is said to produce about 50% of the world’s total cobalt. Huayou Cobalt gets more than 40% of cobalt from DRC. Miners in the area face health issues and are prone to fatal accidents. About 80 miners died underground in southern DRC between September 2014 and December 2015, Amnesty said. Cobalt is a a vital component of lithium-ion batteries. The tech companies said that they had a zero tolerance policy towards child labour.

I would spend 24 hours down in the tunnels. I arrived in the morning and would leave the following morning.

Paul, a 14-year-old miner