In a curious lawsuit filed in the US in the name of 14 unidentified victims, five US tech giants including Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, and Tesla have been named. The case against them stems from the death of child laborers in cobalt mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is the world’s largest producer of the rare metal. Cobalt is a major ingredient for making batteries and is widely used in mobile phones and electric vehicles. The children died while working in the mines on account of the collapse of a tunnel and a few of them were maimed.
The case filed by the International Rights Advocates (IRA) in a Washington Tribunal lists the tech majors as defendants. The plea of the IRA states that the boom in the technological sector has led to a huge increase in the demand for cobalt. IRA’s contention is that tech companies were aware the DR Congo’s mining sector employs children, where they work for pittance. Yet, they did not take any cognizable action to prevent child labor or any other affirmative action. Whereas recently, BMW, the German chemical giant BASF along with Samsung announced a joint project to ensure “responsible” cobalt mining in DR Congo earlier this year.
Mining industry world over is adopting standards of good governance to improve working conditions. As a sequel to this, the London Metal Exchange, the global centre for trading in industrial metals, adopted new ethical standards to ensure better traceability of raw materials, including cobalt. Importantly, the World Gold Council issued non –binding “Responsible Gold Mining Principles”. The law suit mentions that the tech majors, knowing all such realities of child labor and initiatives of similar corporations to switch over to responsible mining, did not take any proactive steps to end the child destitution. Everyone is watching closely the final verdict of the tribunal, which will have a major impact on the mining industry.
