Heartbreaking Expose of Children Mining So We Can Use Cell Phones and Laptops
A Sky News investigation in the Democratic Republic of Congo has found children as young as four not only working, but working under extremely dangerous conditions… to mine cobalt, an essential ingredient in lithium ion batteries used in smart phones and laptops. Eight-year-old Dorsen tells Sky his mother is “already dead and I have to work […]
A Sky News investigation in the Democratic Republic of Congo has found children as young as four not only working, but working under extremely dangerous conditions… to mine cobalt, an essential ingredient in lithium ion batteries used in smart phones and laptops.
Eight-year-old Dorsen tells Sky his mother is “already dead and I have to work all day and my head hurts me”. Richard (11) reveals that “when I wake up every morning, I feel terrible knowing I have to come back here again. Everything hurts.”
The children have to work no matter what the weather – descending down unsafe and unsupported mining tunnels that have been dug by hand; and picking out cobalt with their small hands. No gloves or masks are used, even though cobalt is known to be toxic and result in health issues.
Sky visited five mines and found children working at all. The British TV station filmed the cobalt being sold to Chinese traders who don’t ask questions about where the cobalt originated from. They then sell it on to a larger Chinese corporation which supplies lithium battery makers… who in turn supply batteries to smart phone and laptop producers… who in turn supply us, the consumer.
This long chain of supply means there’s easy “deniability”. Nobody – from those who run the mines to us who buy laptops and phones – feel the sense of responsibility to these poor children who live in squalor, often starving… while multinationals make millions and we buy phones and laptops with careless abandon.