Apple, Google, Microsoft, Dell and Tesla are sued over alleged child labor in Congo

[solewoman]

Apple, Google, Microsoft, Dell and Tesla are sued over alleged child labor in Congo

An international advocacy group has accused Apple, Google, Microsoft, Dell and Tesla of "knowingly benefiting from" the use of young children to mine cobalt in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
International Rights Advocates filed a federal class action against the five companies in Washington, D.C. on Sunday, where the group is based. The complaint claims that the firms "are knowingly benefiting from and aiding and abetting the cruel and brutal use of young children" to mine cobalt in extremely dangerous conditions.
The defendants have known for a "significant period of time" that Congo's mining sector "is dependent upon children," the complaint said, adding that cobalt mined in the region is listed as a good produced by child labor or forced labor by the US Department of Labor.

The world's biggest metal exchange is getting serious about child labor and conflict minerals
"Further, the horrors of the plight of these children has been widely reported in the media," the complaint said, citing reports about the cobalt pipeline published by the Washington Post, the Guardian and others.


Cobalt is a major component of lithium-ion batteries found in virtually every rechargeable electronic gadget. Two-thirds of the world's cobalt comes from Congo.
In 2018, a CNN investigation found that child labor and corruption was still rife there. Many companies including Tesla told CNN at the time that they were unable to fully trace out their supply chains due to what they described as the complex nature of sourcing the precious metal. But the electric carmaker also said it sourced most of its cobalt from suppliers outside Congo and was "committed to only sourcing responsibly-produced materials." Apple was one of only a few companies to reveal their suppliers to CNN.
Click here to read CNN's investigation into cobalt mining
The new suit was filed on behalf of more than a dozen anonymous plaintiffs, who are described as "guardians of children killed in tunnel or wall collapses" while mining, or "children who were maimed in such accidents."

The complaint details several cases involving children it claims were injured, including one boy who slipped and fell while working in a mine and is "now completely paralyzed from his chest down."
Apple (AAPL) declined to comment about the specific allegations in the lawsuit. In a statement to CNN Business, the company said that it remains "deeply committed to the responsible sourcing of materials that go into our products."
"Since 2016, we have published a full list of our identified cobalt refiners every year, 100% of which are participating in independent third party audits," a spokesperson said. "If a refiner is unable or unwilling to meet our standards, they will be removed from our supply chain. We've removed six cobalt refiners in 2019."
The iPhone maker said in 2017 that it would stop sourcing cobalt from artisanal miners, a term that refers to individuals who lack professional equipment. In May 2018, the company declined to comment on reports that it was in talks to buy cobalt directly from regulated mines in Congo.
Dell (DELL) said in a statement that it is "committed to the responsible sourcing of minerals" and "upholding the human rights of workers at any tier of our supply chain and treating them with dignity and respect."
"We have never knowingly sourced operations using any form of involuntary labor, fraudulent recruiting practices or child labor. We work with suppliers to manage their sourcing programs responsibly. Any supplier with reports of misconduct is investigated and, if misconduct is found, removed from our supply chain," the company added.

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Microsoft (MSFT), Tesla (TSLA) and Google (GOOGL), whose parent company Alphabet is listed as a defendant, did not respond to requests for comment. But all of those companies have codes of conducts for their suppliers that prohibit the use of child labor.
International Rights Advocates claims in the lawsuit that the children were exploited and hurt in mining operations linked to the mining companies Glencore (GLCNF), Umicore and Huayou Cobalt, which the group said supply to either some or all of the defendants. None of those companies were listed as defendants.
Glencore told CNN Business that it was aware of the allegations in the lawsuit and that the company "does not tolerate any form of child, forced, or compulsory labor."
"Glencore's production of cobalt in [Congo] is a by-product of our industrial copper production," the company said. "Glencore does not purchase, process or trade any artisanally mined ore," the company said.
Huayou Cobalt and Umicore did not respond to requests for comment.
International Rights Advocates is seeking damages for the alleged victims. The group said in its complaint that it is requesting that the court order Apple, Alphabet, Dell, Microsoft and Tesla to start a fund to help the plaintiffs receive medical care.
-- CNN's Isaac Yee contributed to this report.

 

[trynafeelmink]

This is pretty known, but the truth is people aren't going to stop using these products if i'm being honest. people are only out to "cancel" celebs and companies that don't offer them convenience.

 

[trynafeelmink]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...balt-is-rise-so-is-scrutiny-mining-practices/

Congo’s contested elections in December resulted in the country’s first electoral transfer of power, 59 years after independence. The outcome — with Félix Tshisekedi defeating the candidate backed by departing president Joseph Kabila — has been much in the news.
Cobalt is making headlines, too, along with questions about how the new president will manage resource governance in the mineral-rich country. Congo accounts for at least 60 percent of worldwide cobalt production and has about 50 percent of known global cobalt reserves.
My research in southeastern Congo suggests cobalt mining will prove an increasingly complex policy hurdle for the new president. Many Congolese rely on artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) for their incomes. Since the mid-2000s, Kabila’s government strongly favored large-scale mining (LSM), granting many contracts to multinational corporations. What will be the impact on ASM miners of cobalt if the new regime embraces business as usual?
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Demand for cobalt is rising quickly
The mineral, used in a wide range of products, is an essential component in rechargeable lithium-ion batteries for electric cars. Demand for cobalt has risen quickly in recent years, and in 2017 rose above 100,000 metric tons for the first time. Industry experts expect to see 2020 demand reach 120,000 tons per year. In February 2018, cobalt prices were more than 150 percent higher than the previous year.
Congo’s elections had a startling result. This is what’s going on.
The cobalt industry has been under a microscope
The cobalt story is complex. Human rights conditions in the artisanal mining of cobalt have gained growing attention. News stories focus on the horrific conditions in some ASM mines.

Advocacy groups have been monitoring the situation. The Enough Project, a Washington-based advocacy organization, released a report in October drawing attention to corruption, transparency issues and human rights abuses in Congo’s cobalt sector. The report highlights child labor and other human rights violations in artisanal mining. News articles follow a similar pattern, discussing the industrial uses of cobalt and the often-miserable conditions endured by those whose livelihoods are dependent on ASM.
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These analyses tend to ignore recent history — artisanal miners in Congo, like elsewhere in Africa, face large-scale removal from sites they previously mined. Rapid change in southeastern Congo has meant frequent asset sales to multinational corporations that displace artisanal miners.
How ASM cobalt came to be seen as ‘dirty’
Recently, a powerful narrative has emerged that conditions in the ASM cobalt sector are unacceptably exploitative.

Nongovernmental organizations like Amnesty International and Enough have called on companies that produce electronics and electric vehicles to implement traceability initiatives. Mining companies have become involved. For example, the commodities-trading company Trafigura recently announced investment in a pilot project at Chemaf’s (Chemical of Africa) Mutoshi mine, to formalize and supervise ASM miners.
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Some companies have responded with efforts to reduce or even eliminate cobalt — rethinking next-generation batteries for electric cars, for instance. In 2017 Apple decided to stop buying ASM cobalt following reports of poor working conditions.
The advocacy emphasis on artisanally mined cobalt and the push for cobalt producers and suppliers to report on these minerals in their supply chains are the logical extension of efforts by organizations like Enough. Yet estimates suggest that ASM mines account for only about 20 percent of Congo’s cobalt exports.

This suggests the advocacy focus on ASM is problematic, because it makes it possible for LSM actors to present themselves as a “clean” source of cobalt, in contrast to the global spotlight on “dirty” ASM production. For example, the Kazakh Eurasian Resources Group (ERG), in its Clean Cobalt Framework, describes its efforts to ensure its production is not only free of child labor but also of ASM altogether.
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While companies operating the sites where the majority of cobalt extraction in Congo takes place portray these sites as “clean,” the reality is far more complicated. My research shows that when artisanal miners are pushed out by LSM companies, the result is frequent contestation, conflict and even injuries or deaths of miners at the hands of security forces. Viewing ASM as the heart of the problem with cobalt overlooks the dispossession and corruption associated with large-scale mining in the region.
Trump threatened to suspend the ‘conflict minerals’ provision of Dodd-Frank. That might actually be good for Congo.
Large-scale mining has some questions to answer
In response to NGO advocacy and potential risks to companies’ supply chains, cobalt-mining companies have positioned themselves as able to solve the problems associated with cobalt. Yet LSM firms have frequently been involved in dubious or illegal dealings in the resource extraction sector in Congo and beyond.
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Here are a few examples. Swiss-based Glencore owns the Kamoto Copper Company (KCC) mine, which appears on track to become the largest cobalt mine in the world in 2019. Canada’s Ontario Securities Commission recently fined and banned executives of Glencore PLC, the parent company of Katanga Mining (which operates Kamoto) for stating the wrong amounts of copper and cobalt extracted. The U.S. Department of Justice is probing Glencore, including allegations of potential bribery.
The reputation of Trafigura, the company implementing the Chemaf pilot project, was tarnished by waste dumping in Ivory Coast and, more recently, a Brazilian bribery scandal in which Glencore was also implicated. Chemaf has been linked to environmental violations. The British government found that ERG violated people’s rights to clean water and health care.
To be sure, there are ways to improve how cobalt and other minerals are extracted. Yet my research suggests the poor conditions in many ASM workplaces may reflect the general socioeconomic conditions in Congo — but also these conditions are not inevitable. Artisanal miners are demanding better prices from middlemen, though may be unlikely to succeed without backing from more powerful organizations.
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Realistic policy solutions — for governments and for companies — will probably have to take into account the fact that unsafe ASM working conditions are often a product of miners’ struggle to find open sites. A group of 14 NGOs recently cautioned against banning ASM cobalt, for instance; avoiding ASM cobalt could have serious consequences for people’s livelihoods.
There’s no simple solution here — and a recent drop in the price of cobalt may generate further tensions. For Congo’s new president, this may create added pressure to take a closer look at the economic contribution of the ASM sector, and the views and needs of its miners.

This is an issue i don't see getting any better.

 

[youngogjosh]

Good

 

[Top Boy]

This is pretty known, but the truth is people aren't going to stop using these products if i'm being honest. people are only out to "cancel" celebs and companies that don't offer them convenience.

Agreed tbh. People in America will play the worlds smallest violin and continue on with their day.

People are inherently self-interested and even individuals aware of this exploitation will continue using products derived from it.

I truly believe that.

 

[trynafeelmink]

Agreed tbh. People in America will play the worlds smallest violin and continue on with their day.

People are inherently self-interested and even individuals aware of this exploitation will continue using products derived from it.

I truly believe that.

THIS and we're all guilty of it to an extent.

I would love the Boycott the NFL people, or the cancel celeb ABC people take on this tho. If they could cancel and refuse to support people based off them not liking what they said..... then surely they should be able to boycott companies practicing child labor

but they won't because it actually inconveniences them & they don't get the rush of being morally "better" than someone else when it's a full company

 

[Top Boy]

THIS and we're all guilty of it to an extent.

I would love the Boycott the NFL people, or the cancel celeb ABC people take on this tho. If they could cancel and refuse to support people based off them not liking what they said..... then surely they should be able to boycott companies practicing child labor

but they won't because it actually inconveniences them & they don't get the rush of being morally "better" than someone else when it's a full company

The first half of your last point is what I want to highlight...

How do you cancel Apple? Google? Microsoft?

It's impossible and those are the guys just being named in the suit, I wouldn't be surprised if every other tech manuf. is guilty of exploiting this labor as well.

You'd be out here living like MacGuyver attempting to cancel these giants.

 

[trynafeelmink]

The first half of your last point is what I want to highlight...

How do you cancel Apple? Google? Microsoft?

It's impossible and those are the guys just being named in the suit, I wouldn't be surprised if every other tech manuf. is guilty of exploiting this labor as well.

You'd be out here living like MacGuyver attempting to cancel these giants.

Shut down NEVER because it's unrealistic to expect everyone to be on the same accord, but if the same amount of people who are constantly trying to cancel any celeb who doesn't agree with them...... used that energy to

1) Raise awareness of this problem
2) decided they weren't going to but new apple/microsoft etc etc products until a change was made, a change would be made.

But they won't because IMO very few actually care about the actions of the individual.... and it's moreso based on how they personally feel about those they attack.