Electronics Companies, Including Apple, at the Center of Child Labor Lawsuit in the Congo

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Have you ever thought about what goes into your smartphone? Oh, sure, it’s easy to list components. Screen, digitizer, logic board, camera, battery, and so on. But what makes up those components? Copper, silicon, gold, tin, and cobalt. The latter is the source of the lawsuit out of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Cobalt is necessary in a component you’re likely familiar with: lithium-ion batteries. Nearly every device you own has one of those batteries in it. However, not all sources of cobalt are upstanding mining operations. Some collect cobalt from wherever they can get it and pass it off as having been mined from their own mines. In doing so, they can bypass safety regulations.

People are mining in unregulated conditions, and often children are along for the work. These mines are dangerous, and many have suffered injuries, permanent disabilities, and death.

Now plaintiffs from the Congo have brought a lawsuit against Google’s parent company Alphabet,  as well as Apple, Dell, Microsoft, and Tesla. They blame these companies for creating such high levels of demand for cobalt and profiting from child labor.

What’s Happening in the Congo’s Cobalt Mines?

 

Children often work in unregulated mines, and even when they aren’t working, may accompany their parents while they work, even as infants. The results of their labor find their way to more legitimate sources, where companies like Google and Apple buy from them. It’s a system that lacks regulation and is rife with abuse.

The Congo provides over 60% of the world’s cobalt, and companies need them for everything from electronic devices to cars. We’re entering a more wireless world. Now, things like mice, keyboards, and headphones, which previously did not require batteries, need them. Now even cars, which are increasingly relying less on gasoline and more on electric power, are exploding the demand for cobalt. With such a rapid increase in demand over a short period of time, and large areas rich in the mineral, companies and regulations have struggled to keep up. Even large companies find themselves reaching out to small, illegally ran mines, for a boost in their supplies.

If seemingly legitimate mining companies are secretly obtaining cobalt from illegal sources, companies could unknowingly support these dangerous and illegal mining operations. However, they’re not without fault. No company can secretly source so much cobalt. Inspections, looking at company records, and working with local authorities could prevent the use of illegal cobalt. Demand for illegal cobalt could be completely cut off with proper support from companies and local authorities. However, in situations where money moves around so much, getting the support of local authorities can be difficult. A mine could be the lifeblood of a community, and authorities, regulators, and legislators could look the other way to allow business to continue, either for personal reasons or to benefit their community.

Claims of the Lawsuit

Families of victims of these mines filed in Washington DC. The lawsuit mentions UK-owned mines through Glencore, who sells to a Brussels-based company, Umicore. The tech companies (and car company) named in the lawsuit all do business with Umicore. Umicore sells a variety of minerals, and acts as a trader, facilitating the movement of metals and minerals from around the globe to their prospective factories.

The lawsuit also names Congo DongFang International Mining through its parent company, Huayou Cobalt, a Chinese company. Every company working with Umicore also work with Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt. They’re doing the same thing. They own stake in a number of mining operations, and trade with many others. This allows them to sell large quantities of cobalt and other necessary minerals to tech companies.

Getting confused? That’s understandable. Many of these companies are simply selling minerals and metals they source from other companies. This is how they’re able to provide such large volumes of the minerals to companies like Apple and Tesla. It’s also how illegally mined minerals can make their way from small, unregulated mines to your smartphone or car.

The Plaintiffs

We’ve covered how illegally sourced minerals end up in devices all over the world, through third parties that sort of “launder” the illegal minerals. But what’s happening in these unregulated mining operations? It’s not hard to guess. Mine operators take advantage of small, impoverished communities and loose laws. The same happened in the United States with coal in the 1800’s, and happens in mines around the world, from tin to cobalt.

A woman in the lawsuit, known only by “Jane Doe 1” says her nephew worked in cobalt mines, despite being a child. He worked to afford the $6/month school fee, so he could continue to go to school. He was working in a mine operated by Kamoto Copper Company, which is owned by Glencore, who sells to Umicore, who sells to Alphabet, Apple, Dell, Microsoft, Tesla, and many others. One day in April, the tunnel collapsed on the child. He was buried alive, and his family was never able to recover his body. Somewhere, deep beneath the earth, the closure his loved ones seek lies forever buried in darkness.

He’s one of many.

Another child reported that he started working in a Kamoto mine when he was nine. They had him working, carrying the heavy rocks from the mines to operations sites, for just 75¢ a day. Even if you’re not in the mines, the surrounding areas can be dangerous, especially if visibility is limited due to everything you’re carrying. He fell into a mine. Mine workers pulled him out of the shaft, and left him alone on the ground until his parents found out about it and arrived at the mining site. He’s now paralyzed and can never walk again.

The lawsuit is full of families who lost loved ones, children who died or maimed. Debilitating injuries from hard work alone that will last them for the rest of their lives.

All for our batteries.

The lawsuit claims that the companies mentioned had knowledge of the dangerous methods used in cobalt mines. In fact, four years ago, Apple mentioned wanting to work with mining companies directly, bypassing mineral trading companies, so they could enforce strict safety standards at sites. They never did.

Company Responses

Alphabet/Google

Google initially did not respond to requests for comment by the Guardian, but eventually replied to CBS news after they published their article. Their response was short, but stated that the company does not accept child labor and prohibits it. They stated, “We are committed to sourcing all materials ethically and eliminating child mining in global supply chains. As an active member of the Responsible Minerals Initiative, we work alongside our suppliers, other companies, and industry groups to drive efforts in and beyond the DRC.”

However, as the conditions in these mines are obviously horrible, these groups, like the Responsible Minerals Initiative, seem to be for public relations purposes, more than controlling mine safety. They’re likely under-resourced and incapable of protecting children in these mines, in part due to the sprawling nature of these supply chains.

Apple

Despite their considerations in 2016, Apple didn’t start sourcing directly from mining companies. However, they’re a large enough consumer of cobalt that they likely could. Apple says they have “led the industry by establishing the strictest standards for our suppliers and are constantly working to raise the bar for ourselves and the industry.” While Apple decided not to source their cobalt directly, in 2016 they did begin submitting a full list of their cobalt refiners to third party auditing companies. This year, Apple removed six cobalt refiners after discovering their conditions were unsatisfactory.

Dell

Dell claims they never knowingly supported child labor in their mining operations. It’s also considered joining the Responsible Minerals Initiative that Google is a part of. It seems Dell was comfortable not knowing where their cobalt came from until it was drawn in the public eye. Now they reach out to an initiative that has been incapable of fixing the problem in the past.

Microsoft and Tesla

At the time this article was published, CBS reached out to companies for comment. Many had prepared statements for the press. Microsoft and Tesla, however, did not have a response.

Lawsuit Prospects

It seems as though these companies could have done far more to end illegal mining and child labor in the Congo. In the case of companies like Apple and Google, they knew of a problem but haven’t done enough to stop it. Others, like Dell, claim complete ignorance, despite questions regarding conditions going back years. Still, mining companies and Congo officials declare that there is no child labor in the Congo, meaning Dell and other companies have official statement to believe. The truth is, these are large and wealthy companies. Any lawsuit against them will be an uphill battle.

However, that’s not the only way these families can seek justice. By bringing this lawsuit forward, they’ve raised awareness of child labor in the Congo. They can influence people to buy electronics less frequently, or from companies with ethical supply chains, like FairPhone, instead of those who choose profits over morality. Public awareness could help bring these companies to justice.

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Sources:

• CBS News: [1], [2]
• Luke Dormehl, Cult of Mac
• William Gallagher, AppleInsider
• Annie Kelly, The Guardian
• Ben Lovejoy, 9to5Mac: [1], [2]

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