APPLE, SAMSUNG AND SONY FACE CHILD LABOUR CLAIMS

Human Rights Organisation, Amnesty has accused Apple, Samsung and Sony, among others, of failing to do basic checks to ensure minerals used in their products are not mined by children.

In a report into cobalt mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo(DRC), it found children as young as seven working in dangerous conditions. Cobalt is a vital component of lithium-ion batteries.

According to Armnesty, DRC produces at least 50% of the world's cobalt. Miners working in the area face long-term health problems and the risk of fatal accidents.

It claimed that at least 80 miners had died underground in southern DRC between September 2014 and December 2015. It also collected the testimonies of children who allegedly work in the mines.

 UNICEF estimates that there are approximately 40,000 children working in mines across southern DRC.

In response to the report, Apple said: "Underage labour is never tolerated in our supply chain and we are proud to have led the industry in pioneering new safeguards."

Samsung said that it had a "zero tolerance policy" towards child labour and that, it too, conducted regular and rigorous audits of its supply chain.

"If a violation of child labour is found, contracts with suppliers who use child labour will be immediately terminated," it said.

Sony commented: "We are working with the suppliers to address issues related to human rights and labour conditions at the production sites, as well as in the procurement of minerals and other raw materials."

 

The Amnesty report, which was jointly researched with African Resources Watch (Afrewatch), traced how traders buy cobalt from areas where child labour is rife, selling it on to firm Congo Dongfang Mining (CDM), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Chinese mineral giant Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt Ltd.

Mark Dummett, business and human rights researcher at Amnesty said that mining was "one of the worst forms of child labour".

"The glamorous shop displays and marketing of state of the art technologies are a stark contrast to the children carrying bags of rocks and miners in narrow man-made tunnels risking permanent lung damage," he said. 

 "Millions of people enjoy the benefits of new technologies but rarely ask how they are made. It is high time the big brands took some responsibility for the mining of the raw materials that make their lucrative products.

"Companies whose global profits total $125bn (£86.7bn) cannot credibly claim that they are unable to check where key minerals in their productions come from," he said.