Cobalt Lawsuit Against Tech Giants Over Child Labour A ‘Global Flashpoint Of Corporate Social Responsibility’

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Cobalt Lawsuit Against Tech Giants Over Child Labour A ‘Global Flashpoint Of Corporate Social Responsibility’



The shocking state of child labourers mining for cobalt in Africa has been thrust into the global spotlight after tech giants Apple, Google, Microsoft, Tesla and Dell were sued this week for their role in how this essential element ended up in their products.


International Rights Advocates filed a lawsuit in Washington DC on behalf of 14 parents and children from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). "The lawsuit accuses the companies of aiding and abetting in the death and serious injury of children who they claim were working in cobalt mines in their supply chain,"

Cobalt is needed in the lithium-ion batteries that power smartphones, laptops and electric cars and production has grown three times over the last five years – now just as essential to the global economies as the companies implicated. Over 60% of the world's cobalt comes from the DRC, which has been ravaged by civil war and is one of the poorest countries on Earth.


The lawsuit claims "the young children mining [the] Defendants’ cobalt are not merely being forced to work full-time, extremely dangerous mining jobs at the expense their educations and futures; they are being regularly maimed and killed by tunnel collapses and other known hazards common to cobalt mining in the DRC".

Paid less than $1 a day "children are primarily coerced into cobalt mining work due to injury or death suffered by parents in cobalt mining, the inability to pay school fees, or population displacement when their home village is bulldozed to create space for a new industrial mining site," .

Cobalt – once deemed a worthless chemical – is now the object of a geo-strategic rivalry between the world’s biggest economies. It is also potentially exposing humans and other species to greater doses," the Guardian subsequently reported.

Companies using cobalt from dubious sources have had a free pass until now. It is one of the global flashpoints of corporate social responsibility, partly because it is a widely-known but little-discussed issue, but primarily because it demonstrably involves child labour and therefore child abuse," he told me.

While device makers like Apple have had to clean up their acts over child labour being used to manufacture its computers and smartphones in China, this issue has not had the kind of global attention until now.

"The battery chickens are coming home to roost, and the abuse won't be easily hidden away this time," he says.

Once global attention, media focus and social media activity is brought to bear on the issue, he adds, the companies as well as the courts have little option but to take it seriously. "The courts may, however, pass the buck due to evidence and jurisdiction issues. The manufacturers themselves dare not take that as dismissal of the issue in the court of public opinion," he warns.



There is significant potential impact for these firms, who could send inspectors and managers to sites where cobalt is mined. "This in itself will be expensive, but not nearly as expensive as class action lawsuits they may face in many jurisdictions in future, along with massive reputational damage."

An obvious alternative is to invest in research and development to come up with new formulae, processes or technologies for battery production. "This is exactly what an Israeli company called StoreDot is doing - coming up with new organic compounds for creating high-performance batteries for cars and handsets. However, from a point of view of economic impact, it would make more sense to work closely with authorities in the affected countries to come up with ethical and sustainable means of mining the minerals."

He suggests the most obvious route is to apply the "blood diamonds" principle to cobalt, thereby "ensuring that provenance of is traced to ensure only ethically-mined minerals are purchased. Oracle and a partner company, Circulor, has developed a blockchain specifically to track cobalt. Volvo is an early user."

Big tech firms can no longer ignore their supply chain, warns Goldstuck, who is often called "South Africa's Walt Mossberg" as he was the country's first technology journalist.

"Apple has demonstrated the dangers of being seen to be complicit in child abuse. Organisations ranging from labour rights to human rights groups are becoming increasingly engaged in the issue, and it will probably led to an entirely new approach to ensure ethical supply chains. Corporate governance requirements will eventually include these principles," says Goldstuck.