Do you know what powers your digital life?

Cry of the Poor in the coltan and cobalt mines of the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Who of us can deal with going for even a day without access to our smartphones or iPhones, or laptops and tablets? Who can put in a day’s work without unbroken access to these and other portable electronic devices and items with rechargeable batteries? Probably, none of us can.

Yet, do you know…

…that cobalt and coltan are essential for the production of rechargable batteries for our cell phones and other electronic devices?

…that the DRC produces more than 70% of the world’s cobalt? That the DRC is the world’s second largest producer of coltan after Rwanda?

…that despite its great wealth in natural resources, the DRC is listed amongst the ten poorest African countries by the World Bank?

…that in the DRC more than 40 000 schoolchildren are employed in artisanal gold, cobalt and coltan mines?

…that in the DRC there is conflict between industrial and artisanal miners?

…that there is a dearth of due diligence from ‘mine to marketplace’ in the cobalt and coltan supply chain?

…that in the DRC mining-related environmental degradation and water pollution are threatening whole ecosystems as well as the health and future of the people of the DRC?

Cobalt and Coltan Mining and Child Labour in the DRC – Videos

“This is what we die for…”

In January 2016 Amnesty International alerted the international community to the appalling situation of the artisanal miners in the DRC, many of whom are young children. In the video “This is what we die for: child labour in the DRC cobalt mines” we see children as young as seven scavenging for rocks discarded by industrial miners in their search for cobalt. We see artisanal miners using their hands and the most basic tools to dig out rocks in underground tunnels in their search for cobalt. No one is protected from the health hazards resulting from exposure to cobalt. Finally, we see how the mineral cobalt enters the supply chain of some of the world’s wealthiest electronics companies. The question of whether companies have human rights due diligence measures in place to know where the cobalt in their products comes from, looms large in this video.

Coltan: conflict minerals in Congo

In February 2016 Misereor, the German Catholic Bishops’ Organisation for Development Cooperation produced the video “Coltan: conflict minerals in Congo”, which focusses on the issue of accountability for the supply chain of conflict minerals such as coltan. Misereor, together with other European development organisations made demands that the European Union (EU) develops effective legislation to break the links between natural resources and conflict. Additionally, all companies which sell their products on the markets of the EU are to be held accountable for their entire supply chain, ensuring that human rights standards are applied from “mine to marketplace”, without imposing the ensuing costs onto the poor artisanal miners.

Inside the Congo mines that exploit children

In February 2017 Sky News produced a heart-wrenching “Special report: Inside the Congo mines that exploit children”, with its focus on the unregulated and unmonitored artisanal mines which depend to a great degree on child labour. The Sky News crew visited five different mines across the DRC and produced the same images: ‘armies of children – some as young as four years – at the heart of mining production… working like modern-day slaves’. The crew follow the 8 year-old Dorsan and 11 year-old Richard who work a 12-hour day, and who sometimes earn too little to buy even basic food.

Revisiting the Congo mines that exploit children

Just three months later, in May 2017 the Sky News crew return to the DRC to tell the fathers of Dorsan and Richard that a charity had offered to educate and care for their boys. The children’s fathers agree to give them a chance at a life and future beyond the mines. This “Special Report: Revisiting the cobalt-boys” is filmed with deep respect for the artisanal miners and their children.

The SKY News Videos