TechCentralTechCentral
    Facebook Twitter YouTube LinkedIn
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn YouTube
    TechCentralTechCentral
    NEWSLETTER
    • News

      Fixing SA’s power crisis is not complex: it simply takes the will to do better

      12 August 2022

      Consortium makes unsolicited bid for state’s 40% stake in Telkom

      12 August 2022

      Actually, solar users should pay more to access the grid – here’s why

      12 August 2022

      Telkom says MTN talks remain on track

      12 August 2022

      Analysis | Rain muddies the waters with approach to Telkom

      11 August 2022
    • World

      Tencent woes mount, even after $560-billion selloff

      12 August 2022

      Huawei just booked its first sales rise since US blacklisting

      12 August 2022

      Apple remains upbeat about iPhone sales even as Android world suffers

      12 August 2022

      Ether at two-month high as upgrade to blockchain passes major test

      12 August 2022

      Gaming industry’s fortunes fade as pandemic ends

      11 August 2022
    • In-depth

      African unicorn Flutterwave battles fires on multiple fronts

      11 August 2022

      The length of Earth’s days has been increasing – and no one knows why

      7 August 2022

      As Facebook fades, the Mad Men of advertising stage a comeback

      2 August 2022

      Crypto breaks the rules. That’s the point

      27 July 2022

      E-mail scams are getting chillingly personal

      17 July 2022
    • Podcasts

      Qush on infosec: why prevention is always better than cure

      11 August 2022

      e4’s Adri Führi on encouraging more women into tech careers

      10 August 2022

      How South Africa can woo more women into tech

      4 August 2022

      Book and check-in via WhatsApp? FlySafair is on it

      28 July 2022

      Interview: Why Dell’s next-gen PowerEdge servers change the game

      28 July 2022
    • Opinion

      No reason South Africa should have a shortage of electricity: Ramaphosa

      11 July 2022

      Ntshavheni’s bias against the private sector

      8 July 2022

      South Africa can no longer rely on Eskom alone

      4 July 2022

      Has South Africa’s advertising industry lost its way?

      21 June 2022

      Rob Lith: What Icasa’s spectrum auction means for SA companies

      13 June 2022
    • Company Hubs
      • 1-grid
      • Altron Document Solutions
      • Amplitude
      • Atvance Intellect
      • Axiz
      • BOATech
      • CallMiner
      • Digital Generation
      • E4
      • ESET
      • Euphoria Telecom
      • IBM
      • Kyocera Document Solutions
      • Microsoft
      • Nutanix
      • One Trust
      • Pinnacle
      • Skybox Security
      • SkyWire
      • Tarsus on Demand
      • Videri Digital
      • Zendesk
    • Sections
      • Banking
      • Broadcasting and Media
      • Cloud computing
      • Consumer electronics
      • Cryptocurrencies
      • Education and skills
      • Energy
      • Fintech
      • Information security
      • Internet and connectivity
      • Internet of Things
      • Investment
      • IT services
      • Motoring and transport
      • Public sector
      • Science
      • Social media
      • Talent and leadership
      • Telecoms
    • Advertise
    TechCentralTechCentral
    Home»News»Lawsuit claims Apple, Microsoft profit from African child miners

    Lawsuit claims Apple, Microsoft profit from African child miners

    News By Ashraf Khalil18 December 2019
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email

    A new lawsuit is accusing several of the world’s largest technology firms of knowingly profiting from children labouring under brutal conditions in African cobalt mines.

    The suit, filed this week in Washington by the non-governmental organisation International Rights Advocates, seeks damages from Apple, Dell, Microsoft, Tesla and Alphabet, the parent company of Google.

    It claims the companies are “aiding and abetting the cruel and brutal use of young children” in cobalt mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

    Cobalt is an essential element in the rechargeable lithium batteries that fuel many electronic devices

    The suit targets a pair of mining companies, the British-based firm Glencore and the Chinese company Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt, which it says supply cobalt to all of the defendants.

    The suit is filed on behalf of 13 anonymous plaintiffs, all families with children who died or suffered serious injury while mining cobalt.

    Cobalt is an essential element in the rechargeable lithium batteries that fuel many electronic devices.

    The rise of smartphones in the past 20 years created a large demand for the metal, and the growing popularity of electric cars is expected to further increase demand.

    The majority of the global cobalt supply comes from two provinces in the DRC.

    ‘Brutal exploitation’

    The suit claims that the cobalt boom “brought on a new wave of brutal exploitation” for the DRC, which has a bloody colonial history and was once considered the personal property of Belgium’s King Leopold II.

    It says hundreds of Congolese children have been forced by extreme poverty to work in the cobalt mines, digging in underground tunnels with primitive equipment for as little as two US dollars per day.

    A statement from Apple said the company is “deeply committed to the responsible sourcing of materials that go into our products”.

    It says the company “removed” six cobalt refiners from its supply chain in 2019 for being unable to meet Apple’s safety standards.

    A Dell statement says the allegations in the lawsuit are being investigated and declares that the company has “never knowingly sourced operations using any form of involuntary labour, fraudulent recruiting practices or child labour”.

    Efforts to seek comment from the other companies named in the suit did not receive an immediate response.

    Apple Glencore Google Microsoft top Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt
    Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email
    Previous ArticleSouth African-made Mara smartphones get corporate backing
    Next Article MTN South Africa sets mobile money relaunch date

    Related Posts

    Fixing SA’s power crisis is not complex: it simply takes the will to do better

    12 August 2022

    Consortium makes unsolicited bid for state’s 40% stake in Telkom

    12 August 2022

    Actually, solar users should pay more to access the grid – here’s why

    12 August 2022
    Add A Comment

    Comments are closed.

    Promoted

    Get your brand in front of TechCentral’s amazing audience

    12 August 2022

    Pricing Beyond CMYK: printers answer the FAQs

    11 August 2022

    How secure is your cloud?

    10 August 2022
    Opinion

    No reason South Africa should have a shortage of electricity: Ramaphosa

    11 July 2022

    Ntshavheni’s bias against the private sector

    8 July 2022

    South Africa can no longer rely on Eskom alone

    4 July 2022

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    © 2009 - 2022 NewsCentral Media

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.