How is it addressing the conflict in its policy under 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goal 8. Snapshot: In 2019, IRAdvocates, a US-based NGO filed a class action lawsuit against Apple, Google, Tesla, Alphabet, Microsoft, and Dell alleging the corporations profited from child labour in their cobalt supply chains in the Democratic Republic of Congo. How does it ensure that European Green Deal policy initiatives are consistent with ILO Convention 182 standards?
Recognizing the prevalence of child labor in the mining of this mineral, in 2009 the Department of Labor placed cobalt ore from the DRC on its List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor. How exactly does the Commission enforce its zero‑tolerance approach to child labour in the cobalt supply chain? LONDON - Five of the worlds largest tech companies are being sued over the deaths and injuries of Congolese children mining for cobalt, a key component of the batteries used in smartphones, tablets, laptops and electric cars. The Iron Creek site could produce at least 6,000 metric tons of cobalt, but possibly much more. Cobalt is often mined by children exploited in dangerous and illegal child labor. Today, the DRC’s artisanal mines are not safe a fact that industrial miners, traders and manufacturers of batteries and electric. In fact, international organizations have already pointed out the problem of child laborers mining cobalt in the DRC, including UNICEF in 2014 and World Vision. Despite the Commission’s zero‑tolerance approach to child labor in trade agreements, it is estimated, according to reports by UN agencies, that in the southern Katanga province, more than 40 000 children are working in hazardous conditions in cobalt mines, with inadequate safety equipment and for very little money. As demand for EVs grows, so will artisanal cobalt mining. The Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the world’s largest known reservoirs of this metal are found, provides a substantial amount of the cobalt the EU needs to meet its growing demand. The lawsuit concerned the role of these companies in cobalt mining operations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
#Cons of child labor in cobalt mines full#
The EU’s 2030 climate target will only increase demand for this metal in the EU. Nichols of the US District Court for the District of Columbia has dismissed claims against prominent technology companies Apple, Google, Tesla, Dell and Microsoft related to child labor. 'In 2014, we were the first to start mapping our cobalt supply chain to the mine level and since 2016, we have published a full list of our identified cobalt refiners every year, 100 of which are. Cobalt is a critical component in rechargeable car batteries and is indispensable for the transition from fossil fuels to sustainable energy sources. A desperately poor country, the DRC is beset with grand-scale corruption and endemic child labor in the mines, where underage workers earn pennies a day in the backbreaking work of digging.
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