A general view of miners working at the Shabara cobalt mine, near Kolwezi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, on October 12, 2022.JUNIOR KANNAH (AFP/Getty Images)
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) a real frenzy is taking place, a mad race to extract as much cobalt as quickly as possible.
This rare bluish metal is an essential component of almost all rechargeable lithium-ion batteries made today.
It is also used in a wide range of recent low-carbon innovations critical to achieving climate sustainability goals.
The Katanga region, in the southeastern corner of the Congo, has more cobalt reserves than the rest of the planet combined.
In addition, other valuable metals such as copper, iron, zinc, tin, nickel, manganese, germanium, tantalum, tungsten, uranium, gold, silver and lithium are also abundant.
The deposits have been there dormant eons before foreign powers began to take advantage of the land.
Industrial innovations unleashed demand for one metal after another and everyone seemed to be in Katanga.
The rest of Congo is also full of natural resources.
Foreign powers have penetrated to the last corner of this nation to extract its rich reserves of ivory, palm oil, diamonds, wood, rubber... and turn its people into slaves.
Few nations have been blessed with a more diverse abundance of resources than the Congo.
No country in the world has been so exploited.
The cobalt rush is reminiscent of the infamous plunder of Congolese ivory and rubber that King Leopold II carried out during his brutal reign as sovereign of the Congo Free State from 1885 to 1908. Those familiar with this regime might say that the atrocities that took place then have little to do with the damage that occurs today.
The loss of life while Leopold exercised control over the Congo is estimated at 13 million people, the equivalent of half the colony's population at the time.
Today, the loss of life caused directly by mining accidents or indirectly by toxic exposure and environmental pollution is a few thousand a year.
However, a crucial fact must be recognized: for centuries enslaving Africans was inherent to colonialism.
In the modern era, slavery has been universally rejected and basic human rights are considered
erga omnes
and
ius cogens
in international law.
The exploitation of the Congo's poorest people by the rich and powerful invalidates the supposed moral foundations of contemporary civilization and takes humanity back to a time when the people of Africa were only valued at their replacement cost.
The implications of this moral reversal, which is itself a form of violence, extend beyond Central Africa, to the entire global south, where an immense part of humanity continues to lead a subhuman existence in conditions of slavery at its most extreme. under the global economic order.
Since colonial times things have changed less than we would like to admit.
More information
Evictions, attacks and ridiculous compensation: the “perverse effect” of cobalt and copper extraction on the lives of Congolese
The harsh reality of cobalt extraction in the Congo is an inconvenience for all parties involved in the chain.
No company wants to admit that the rechargeable batteries used for smartphones, tablets, laptops and electric vehicles contain cobalt mined by farmers and children in dangerous conditions.
In their public statements and press releases, companies at the top of the cobalt extraction chain often cite their commitment to international human rights standards, their zero-tolerance policies on child labor, and their adherence to the most stringent measures. strict supply chain control.
Here are some examples:
“Apple works to protect the environment and safeguard the well-being of the millions of people who are affected by our supply chain, from the mining level to the facilities where products are assembled […].
As of December 31, 2021, we verified that all smelters and refineries identified in our supply chain were participating in or had completed a third-party audit that met Apple's requirements for responsible mineral sourcing.
“Samsung maintains a zero-tolerance policy against child labor, prohibited by international standards and relevant national laws and regulations, in all phases of its global operations.”
“While Tesla's responsible sourcing practices apply to all materials and supply chain partners, we recognize the conditions associated with artisanal selective mining (ASM) of cobalt in the DRC.
To ensure that cobalt in Tesla's supply chain comes from ethical sources, we have implemented a due diligence guide for its sourcing.
“Glencore SA is committed to preventing the practice of modern slavery and human trafficking in our operations and supply chains […].
“We do not tolerate child labour, any form of forced, compulsory or bonded labour, human trafficking or any other form of slavery and we seek to identify and eliminate them from our supply chains.”
As scrutiny has increased over the conditions under which cobalt is mined, parties involved have begun to form international partnerships to help ensure their supply chains are clean.
The two main ones are the Responsible Minerals Initiative (RMI) and the Global Battery Alliance (GBA).
RMI promotes responsible sourcing of minerals in accordance with the United Nations Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights.
Part of the RMI initiative includes a “responsible minerals assurance process,” which aims to support independent third-party assessments of cobalt supply chains and monitor cobalt mining operations in the DRC for cases of child labor. .
The GBA promotes safe working conditions in the extraction of raw materials for rechargeable batteries.
It has developed a Cobalt Action Partnership to “immediately and urgently eliminate child and forced labor from the cobalt supply chain” through on-the-ground monitoring and third-party assessments.
In all my time in the Congo I never saw or heard of activities linked to any of these associations, much less anything resembling corporate commitments to international human rights standards, third-party audits or zero-tolerance policies. against forced and child labor.
On the contrary, in 21 years of research into slavery and child labor, I have never seen more extreme predation for profit than what I witnessed at the lowest link in global cobalt supply chains.
The giant companies that sell products containing Congolese cobalt are worth billions, but the people who mine it make a living amid extreme poverty and immense suffering.
They live at the limit of what is considered a human life, in an environment that for foreign mining companies is a toxic dump, cutting down millions of trees, razing dozens of towns, polluting rivers and the air itself, and destroying farmland.
The human and environmental catastrophe in Congo is what keeps our way of life going.
(…) .
If we watch the dirty children of the Katanga region digging in the dirt in search of cobalt, it will be difficult for us to differentiate whether they are working for the benefit of Leopoldo or a technology company.
Siddharth Kara
(Knoxville, USA, 1974) is a writer, researcher and activist against modern slavery.
This extract is a preview of
Red Cobalt.
The Congo bleeds so you can connect
, by Captain Swing, which is published this January 21.
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