In crude mines across Central and Sub-Saharan Africa, hands that should hold pencils and schoolbooks hammer rocks and search for the minerals that power electric vehicle batteries, solar cells, and wind turbines.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As the world is forced to transition away from fossil fuels, the demand for minerals essential to clean energy is skyrocketing. But some companies are drawing from an unjust supply chain to meet this demand.<\/p>\n
An estimated 40,000 children<\/a> work in cobalt mining in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the source of over half<\/a> of the world\u2019s supply. In Madagascar, an estimated 10,000 children<\/a> mine for mica. Children labor in dangerous lithium mines in Nigeria<\/a> and copper mines in Zambia<\/a>. Globally, more than one million children work in mines and quarries<\/a>. <\/p>\n The mining industry is often dominated by male leaders, but to solve the issue of child labor in mines, we also need to listen to the solutions proposed by women workers, caregivers, and community advocates.\u00a0<\/p>\n Mineral demand driven by energy security and geopolitical power shifts <\/p>\n Consumer demand and efforts to meet climate mitigation goals are driving rapid growth in the extractive industries that mine these minerals<\/a>. Lithium demand rose<\/a> by 30% in 2023, and demand for nickel, cobalt, graphite, and rare earth elements grew 8% or more. Geopolitical imperatives to lessen dependence on China<\/a>, which drove about 90% of the supply growth<\/a> for cobalt, graphite, and rare earth minerals between 2020 and 2024, have prompted the U.S., the E.U., Canada, and several multinational banks to invest in Africa.<\/p>\n Companies faced with evidence of human rights abuses and public backlash often find it simpler to cut ties<\/a> with the bad suppliers, leaving the local community without its livelihood. While some communities do want to get rid of the mining industry altogether, others see potential benefits of regulated mining to promote prosperity at home.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe mines are natural gifts. The mines are needed, but we don\u2019t want exploitation of children,\u201d says Imaobong Ladip Sanusi, who leads the Women Trafficking and Child Labour Eradication Foundation in Nigeria.\u00a0<\/p>\n Listening to the people closest to the problem<\/p>\n The U.S., the E.U., Canada, and other nations that buy these minerals can and do demand fair labor practices. Key to promoting prosperity in communities, however, is hearing from the people on the ground and closest to the problem. Case in point: many women activists have demonstrated a better way to protect children.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cListening to women is crucial because they are often the primary caregivers for children in communities,\u201d said Annie Sinaduku Mwange, a Congolese mine owner and activist. \u201cThey understand family dynamics and the economic challenges they face.\u201d<\/p>\n Children end up in mines when desperate families lack viable alternatives. The drivers of poverty and child labor are varied, and so local organizations and activists are often most attuned to the ways that corporate and government actors can best respond.\u00a0<\/p>\n In Nigeria, Sanusi\u2019s organization connects a network of women who identify cases of child labor and then develop solutions. \u201cAll too often, community outreach is top down\u201d and misses the mark, she says. Instead, her group offers solutions based on engagement with parents, religious leaders, and other members of local communities.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Nigerian government will commission two major lithium processing plants this year, backed by Chinese investors. Extracting the lithium<\/a> from the earth, however, is lightly regulated and unlicensed mines are the norm.<\/p>\n Women in Sanusi\u2019s organization advise the government on which policies will truly get kids out of mines. School feeding programs, for example, mean that families don\u2019t have to send their children to a mine to ensure they can afford a meal that day. They create spaces for children who want to talk about the harsh realities they face to be heard, and they mobilize people to help. When they find a child laboring in a mine, they search for a relative who can afford to put the child in school instead.\u00a0<\/p>\n Lifting up the whole community lifts children out of mines<\/p>\n In the DRC, Mwange advocates for women\u2019s empowerment as a way to keep kids out of mines. Here, an estimated 500,000 to 2 million<\/a> people depend on artisanal mining for their livelihood, and an estimated 30 to 50% of workers are women<\/a>. Yet, women are relegated to the lowest-paid jobs and are often sexually harassed.\u00a0<\/p>\n Mwange realized that empowering women miners could change the dynamic. Her network helps women acquire the funds and expertise to purchase and manage their own mines. These \u201cm\u00e8res\u201d bosses, or mother bosses, demand respect, set the rules, and build their economic power. Women with economic power are more likely to send their children to school instead of into the mines, says Mwange.\u00a0<\/p>\n The workers in large industrial mines, who are more often male, also face abusive conditions and need fair wages in order to support their families, says Anneke Van Woudenberg, executive director of RAID, a corporate watchdog organization. RAID works with CAJJ, a legal aid group, to back workers who are challenging cobalt mining companies<\/a> in Congolese courts and pressing for fair wages. The organization where I work, The Freedom Fund, supports this locally-led strategic litigation<\/a> to fight forced labor. These efforts benefit people of all ages.<\/p>\n Protecting children and demanding decent pay and conditions must be a priority as the world strives to meet its clean energy goals. Solutions to create ethical, mutually prosperous supply chains are not one-size-fits-all, except for this: Listen to the women and activists on the ground and, if mining in their communities, invest in their communities.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In crude mines across Central and Sub-Saharan Africa, hands that should hold pencils and schoolbooks hammer rocks and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":43561,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[2084,1477,242,9884,85,46,141],"class_list":{"0":"post-43560","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-climate","9":"tag-climate-change","10":"tag-environment","11":"tag-freelance","12":"tag-il","13":"tag-israel","14":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43560","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43560"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43560\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}