Lawsuit Filed At Major Tech Companies Over The Death Of Congolese Miners

As many children died and are injured in the cobalt mine of Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), located in  Central Africa, big tech companies like Microsft, Apple, Google, and Tesla are being potentially sued by the International Rights Advocates, an NGO that fights for human rights, on behalf of the Congolese family of those miners. 

Many of these miners are children who are forced into working in the mines with barely any wages paid. The children are denied any basic schooling or education while being pushed in the only form of survival. This poses a very high threat to their health and life, as they are not provided with any basic safety gear. As basic human rights are abused, the owner of these cobalt mines obtains a huge amount of profit by supplying to the major tech firms.

Cobalt is used in the production of lithium-ion batteries, popularly known for powering smartphones, laptops, and cars. DRC has the biggest deposit of cobalt in the world, it produces 60% of cobalt supply.

Glencore is allegedly accused of owing these mines and supplying cobalt to other companies, as it is a "multinational commodity trading and mining company". Many of the tech companies are denying these accusations claiming that they make sure where their supply comes from is authentic. But it couldn't be confirmed as the supply chain is large and may not be possible to track, as the owners of some of these mines are still "unknown".  

Ethically, it is the duty and responsibility of these firms to verify where they get their cobalt supplies from and to ensure that no human rights are violated in the process. If they are unaware of the exploits of basic rights such as child labor, they should be held liable.