Unraveling Child Labor in the Mining Industry in the Congo Basin
A virtual side-event commemorating the World Day Against Child Labor and International Day of the African Child
The NGO Mining Working Group (MWG) is a coalition of NGOs that advocate through the UN system for human and environmental rights as they relate to extractive industries. The MWG addresses unjust and unsustainable extractive practices and policies through the lens of Earth’s carrying capacity and the rights of local communities and indigenous peoples. This year, which the UN Secretary-General has declared the International Year for the Elimination of Child Labour, the MWG has taken a particular interest in shining a light on child labor practices in the extractive industry. One epicenter of such practices is the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
The DRC is the origin of over half the world’s cobalt, a mineral that is essential for the production of lithium-on batteries in electric cars, phones, and computers. These technological gadgets serve as the foundation of modern global commerce and communication and the future of private transportation. Behind the ubiquitous devices purchased around the world from Apple, Microsoft, Samsung, Tesla, and numerous others, is a labor force that the UNICEF estimates to include over 40,000 children, many of whom are out of school.
At a typical cobalt mine in the DRC, children can be found working without gloves or masks as they sort cobalt from the soil by hand. This task exposes their skin and lungs to cobalt dust, which the World Health Organization has reported causing long-term health problems. Birth defects are also common in babies born to mining mothers, children whose families’ poverty and lack of decent work opportunities are likely to force them into full-time mining work by the time they are teenagers, if not as soon as they can walk.
Child labor in the extractive sector in the DRC is not limited to cobalt mines. Exploited children can be found enmeshed in mining operations for coltan, copper, diamonds, gold, tantalum ore, tin ore, and tungsten ore across the country. Despite recent public-private initiatives aimed at curtailing child labor, the lack of labor regulation and enforcement at the source continues to make the phenomenon difficult to trace across supply chains that span the globe. As a result, the use of child labor remains blatantly pervasive in DR Congo’s mines.
In this side event, the NGO Mining Working Group will mark International Day of the African Child (June 16), World Day Against Child Labour (June 20), and the International Year for the Elimination of Child Labour, by leading a frank discussion on the unacceptable reality of child labor. It will feature insights from policy analysts on the shortcomings of labor regulations and mining code enforcement in DRC. The event will also present the perspective of a social work practitioner who has witnessed firsthand the social, psychological, and physical effects of mining labor on children in the country and some of the initiatives aimed at addressing these problems. Panelists will also discuss the ways in which international frameworks like the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the ILO Conventions on child labour (No. 138 and No. 132), and the Sustainable Development Goals (Goal 8, Target 7). Together, discussants will put forth guidance for policymakers and civil society advocates on the pathway to eradication of child labor in the mines of DR Congo.
