Despite the world's shift towards green energy being the hope for a sustainable future, it is not without dark aspects, the most prominent of which is the use of children in mining for minerals.
Humanity is currently facing a number of environmental challenges, foremost among them climate change and global warming caused by energy emissions and other sectors. Against this background, the green transformation represents utmost importance in tackling the crisis while achieving economic growth as well.
The rapid growth of renewable electricity worldwide has led to the emergence of a new global energy economy, increasing demand for key metallic elements associated with clean energy, and expanding mining and extraction activities.
Silicon and cobalt are essential examples of elements needed for important clean energy technologies, such as photovoltaic solar energy units and electric vehicle batteries.
Cobalt, being a crucial mineral for lithium-ion batteries used as energy storage devices in electric cars, as well as in wind and solar power stations, is estimated to see a fourfold demand increase by 2030, according to recent estimates by the World Economic Forum.
Currently, two-thirds of cobalt mining operations globally occur in industrial mines using heavy machinery, compliant with health and occupational safety standards.
Conversely, artisanal and small-scale mining constitute the remaining share, a form of informal mining outside authorized areas, where workers do not adhere to official labor agreements regarding wages, working conditions, safety, and occupational health.
Around one million children are estimated to work in the mining sector, particularly in artisanal and small-scale mining, performing hazardous tasks classified as the worst forms of child labor, according to the International Labour Organization.
Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo plays a vital role in the supply chains of electric vehicle batteries and other products reliant on cobalt, extracting about 70% of the global metal.
The country produces nearly 30% of this huge quantity through artisanal and small-scale mining, with an estimated million workers operating in dangerous conditions, as per the Delve Database platform for data.
Artisanal and small-scale cobalt mining in the Congo is associated with forced child labor and other violations in informal cobalt mines, as per Amnesty International.
Siddharth Kara, the author and academic at Harvard University, documents the hidden world of informal cobalt mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in his renowned book "Cobalt Red."
In his foreword to the 2023 publication, Kara states, "If you own a smartphone, tablet, laptop, e-scooter, electric car, or anything in between, you are complicit in a brutal system unwittingly."
Kara highlights that cobalt mining in Congo represents a brutal industry, engaging hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children digging with their bare hands and crude tools in toxic and perilous pits, striving to survive at the bottom of the global supply chain ladder.
The author shares stories of mine workers, specifically children, who have suffered life-altering injuries, sexual abuse, physical violence, corruption, displacement, and extreme poverty.
In artisanal and small-scale mining, children perform the same tasks as adults, including climbing makeshift ladders, breaking rocks containing metals, and using hazardous chemicals to separate minerals from ore.
Working in and around mines poses a variety of risks for children, such as collapses in unstable tunnels or exposure to toxic gases.
There are also psychological risks, especially for girls, including the danger of all forms of sexual and physical assault.
Cobalt deposits near the surface are raisin-like and can be extracted from shallow diggings, hence hundreds of children are employed in manual digging to access cobalt shards.
Cobalt is toxic upon touch and inhalation, often found alongside traces of radioactive uranium, leading to cancer, respiratory diseases, abortions, headaches, and painful skin conditions among adult workers lacking protective gear.
Children in mining communities in Congo suffer from congenital deformities, growth impairments, vomiting, seizures, and exposure to heavy metal poisoning directly or indirectly.
Kara paints a picture of the suffering children endure in hazardous mining conditions, with some standing fully naked in toxic pools, while others carried by their mothers during digging.
Furthermore, the book details numerous unreported deaths, including children buried alive in makeshift mining tunnels, whose bodies were never recovered.
The author meets a mother who buried her son alive alongside others after a mining tunnel collapse, tearfully saying, "Our children are dying like dogs."
The mother and others reported that a mining tunnel collapse incident in central Congo on September 21, 2019, resulted in the deaths of 63 men and boys buried alive, with only four bodies ever recovered.
No one has officially taken responsibility for the incident or the deaths of men and children, as no one acknowledged the incident itself as if it never happened, as per the book.
The issue persists.
In 2016, Amnesty International and the Congolese human rights organization Afrewatch published a report detailing countless deaths and injuries among children working in small-scale mines dug or carved tunnels, often collapsing and burying young miners alive.
