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The Slavery Behind Electric Cars
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) supplies around 75% of the world’s cobalt. Cobalt is a vital component to the global economy and particularly to the Green Industrial Revolution. Cobalt is integral to rechargeable batteries and this plays a significant role in electric vehicles. However, the working conditions for those in Congo in the mining process of cobalt is extremely hazardous, exploitative and is vulnerable to modern slavery. Around one million are estimated to be living as modern slaves in DRC. 35,000 of these are children.
The horrendous working conditions in Congo’s mining sector made world’s headlines after Amnesty International and Congolese rights group Afrewatch published a report on the deaths and injuries of children working in hand-dug mines. These manually carved tunnels would often collapse and bury the young miners alive. Extreme poverty for Congolese families means that they are left with no choice but to have their children work in mines. Children work at least 12 hours a day without any protective equipment in deep underground shafts dug by themselves with no mask or helmet. They are paid between 1 to 2 dollars a day and are exposed to many risks such as mercury poisoning as well as lung infections.
To provide some understanding on DRC, they are a large country in Central Africa. They are the third largest country in Africa and the twentieth most populous country in the world with around 80 million people. DRC lacks some basic services with only 26% of the country having access to clean drinking water, the completion rate of secondary level of school is 18%, the rate of HIV/AIDS infection is 10% of the sexually active population. Armed conflicts have displaced 2 million people but it has also affected 75% of the population. Life expectancy for men is just 47 years old and for women it is 51 years.
Despite this, DRC has some of the most important natural resources in the world. They are major producers of copper, diamonds, gold, oil and zinc. The World Bank stated that mining is the “engine of the Congo economy” and projected that it brings in $186 million to $388 million in gross production. The mining sector overall pays them $1.57 billion. This barely scratches the surface as it is estimated that DRC has $214 trillion in untapped mineral resources.
