Congolese Cobalt: A Growing Human Rights Catastrophe

By Rayna Alexander

Introduction

In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), one of the world’s poorest countries, an increase in mass violence and internal displacement is the result of militia infighting over mineral reserves (M23 rebel group, for example) [1]. Since October 2023, 6.9 million Congolese people have been displaced due to violence and rebel attacks–400,000 the result of forced evictions from cobalt mining [2]. The blue-green mineral, cobalt, is at the forefront of the green revolution. Used in electric vehicles and lithium-ion batteries, global demand for the mineral is anticipated to double by 2030 [3]. More than sixty percent of the world’s cobalt is produced in the DRC [4]. The mineral is primarily extracted from the southern province of Lualaba near the country’s cobalt capital Kolwezi. Ironically, as global industries move towards “clean” and “green” electric technologies, the rush for cobalt amounts to a growing human rights catastrophe.

Background

Cobalt mining in the DRC is divided into two sectors: the formal industrial mining sector and the informal artisanal mining sector (an estimated fifteen to thirty percent of the artisanal mining sector is informal) [5]. Upwards of 200,000 artisanal miners, known as creuseurs, work in cobalt mines in the country, and more than a million others–including young children–are economically dependent on industries within the informal sector (marketing, sales, washing, etc.) [6]. Regardless of efforts to monitor the industry, artisanal cobalt is bought by roving traders, oftentimes through bribes, and distributed to maisons d’achats, or small shacks meant to be owned by Congolese nationals. However, many are managed by Chinese business operatives who circumvent the law through bribes and sell the ore to processing facilities that blend the mineral with industrial-mined cobalt. One anti-slavery activist noted, “There is no such thing as a clean supply chain of cobalt from the Congo” [7].

Analysis

Artisanal cobalt mines are often haphazardly dug, lack structural support, and are at risk of collapse. Frequent collapses suffocate the creuseurs trapped inside. The government agency, Service d’Assistance et d’Encadrement du Small Scale Mining, is responsible for regulating artisanal mining in Zones d’Exploitation Artisanale or artisanal mining zones in the Democratic Republic of Congo. However, the bureaucratic process of establishing official artisanal zones is both lengthy and costly [8]. Currently, not enough zones exist to accommodate the network of miners in the region. As a result, creuseurs often mine in unregulated areas or trespass in industrial mines. In the DRC, a lack of state government authority makes local, legal enforcement difficult outside of the capital of Kinshasa [9]. Often, military personnel respond to local sources of authority, as opposed to national ones. One analyst aptly noted President Felix Tshisekedi acts more as the mayor of Kinshasa, than as president of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

According to the International Labor Organization’s Minimum Age Convention (1973), the minimum age for hazardous work is eighteen years [10]. The DRC set its minimum working age to fourteen when it ratified the Convention in 2001 [11]. In Kolwezi, however, children as young as three aid in extracting the ore from mined rock slabs [12]. Artisanal mining supplements poor families’ incomes; 40,000 children (some as young as seven) work in cobalt mines for less than $2 a day [13]. Young miners are exposed to harmful byproducts, grueling physical labor, unsafe conditions, and exploitation. Some are even drugged to suppress hunger during extensive mining shifts [14]. Compared to the first six months of 2022, the increase in grave violations against children increased by forty-one percent in the first half of 2023 [15].

Children are among the most vulnerable of the Congolese people trapped in the mining industry [16]. Militias kidnap many children to work in cobalt mines. To make matters worse, the minimal compensation children receive for mining is funneled into the militia’s accounts. Congolese people are pressured not only by the lack of economic alternatives but also by armed militias forcing the poor to mine. Daily, parents deal with the horrific decision: “Do I send my child to school, or do we eat today?”[17]. The latter choice means grueling hours in toxic pits to earn fifty cents or a dollar that day. Given the scale of degradation, exploitation, and the lack of livelihood alternatives, one National Public Radio report claimed, “In the 21st century, this is modern-day slavery” [18].

Conclusion

For human rights abuses to be adequately addressed, holistic action must take place. Consumers of technology must demand publicized supply chains and further efforts to source cobalt ethically (including “fair trade” markings). Federal and international mandates requiring companies like Apple and Tesla to disclose supply chains and contracts would provide more transparency. Multinational corporations must demand more from suppliers, specifically Chinese corporations that are quickly monopolizing the industry. In addition, international investment must target domestic battery plants, lithium iron phosphate substitutes, and efficient cobalt recycling schemes. The failure of the Congolese government to provide ethical economic opportunities to the Congolese people must also be noted, and international aid agencies working in-country should support diverse economies.

One community leader noted, “Never have people of the Congo benefited from the mines of Congo. We only become poorer”[19]. Without strengthening domestic institutions, violence and exploitation will only continue, with the largest burden on the poorest Congolese. Realistically, however, the DRC has a long way to go to hold international actors accountable and establish authority over its territory. International investment must holistically address these issues; the wellbeing of hundreds of thousands of Congolese children depends on it.

1. Victoria Audu, The Back End of Genocide: How the Rush for Congo’s Cobalt is Killing Thousands, THE REPUBLIC (November 19, 2023), https://republic.com.ng/october-november-2023/congo-cobalt-genocide/?mc_cid=43f1099cf0&mc_eid=71fabbd389&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email.
2.  Id.
3. Andy Home, Cobalt, Congo and a Mass Artisanal Mining Experiment, REUTERS (May 31, 2021), https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/cobalt-congo-mass-artisanal-mining-experiment-andy-home-2021-05-13/.
4. John Campbell, Why Cobalt Mining in the DRC Needs Urgent Attention, COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS (October 29, 2020), https://www.cfr.org/blog/why-cobalt-mining-drc-needs-urgent-attention.
5. Michael Posner, To Meet Global Cobalt Demand, Companies Must Reform Mining Practices in the Congo, FORBES (February 9, 2023), https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelposner/2023/02/09/as-demand-soars-for-cobalt-used-in-electric-car-batteries-heres-what-companies-need-to-do-in-the-democratic-republic-of-congo/?sh=50e84aab6471.
6. Home, supra note 3.
7. UNICEF, DR Congo: Children Killed, Injured, Abducted, and Face Sexual Violence in Conflict at Record Levels for Third Consecutive Year, (September 28, 2023), https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/dr-congo-children-killed-injured-abducted-and-face-sexual-violence-conflict-record.
8. Democratic Republic of Congo: “This is what we die for”: Human rights abuses in the Democratic Republic of the Congo power the global trade in cobalt, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL (January 19, 2016), https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/afr62/3183/2016/en/.
9.  Id.
10. Minimum Age Convention, 26 June 1973, No. 198 (entered into force 19 June 1976) [ILO].
11. Id.
12. Nicolas Niarchos, The Dark Side of Congo’s Cobalt Rush, THE NEW YORKER (May 24, 2021), https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/05/31/the-dark-side-of-congos-cobalt-rush.
13. Sasha Rose, Cobalt Mining in the DRC, UNA-NCA (November 17, 2021), https://www.unanca.org/our-impact/news/coverage-cobalt-mining.
14. Niarchos, supra note 12.
15. UNICEF, supra note 7.
16. Terry Gross, How ‘Modern-Day Slavery’ in the Congo Powers the Rechargeable Battery Economy, NPR (February 1, 2023), https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2023/02/01/1152893248/red-cobalt-congo-drc-mining-siddharth-kara.
17.  Id.
18.  Id.
19. UNICEF, supra note 7.