APPLE, Google, Tesla, Dell and Microsoft are being taken to court accused of knowingly profiting from children labouring under brutal conditions in African mines.
The suit, filed this week in Washington DC by the International Rights Advocates, claims the companies are “aiding and abetting the cruel and brutal use of young children” in cobalt mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Lawyers are representing 13 anonymous plaintiffs, all families with children who have been killed, maimed, or suffered other serious injury while mining cobalt.
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 majority of the world’s cobalt, which is essential for the rechargeable lithium batteries in many electronic devices, comes from two provinces in the DRC.
The rise of smart phones has created a large demand for the metal, and the growing popularity of electric cars will further increase demand.
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The suit claims that cobalt mines “brought on a new wave of brutal exploitation” for the DRC, which has a bloody colonial history.
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 (£1.53) per day.
Dell said it had “never knowingly [used] any form of involuntary labour, fraudulent recruiting practices or child labour”.
Apple denied guilt while efforts to seek comment from the other companies named in the suit did not receive an immediate response.
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