Apple battery suppliers use cobalt mined by child laborers, report says
An Amnesty International investigation claims child labor is being used to acquire cobalt in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a mineral used in the production of lithium-ion batteries purchased by tech companies like Apple.
The report, published on Monday by Amnesty and DPR non-profit Afrewatch, claims children as young as seven years old are mining for cobalt that makes its way into the supply chains of high-tech companies including Apple, Samsung, Sony and Microsoft, as well as electric car makers like Daimler and Volkswagen.
According to Amnesty, traders purchase mined minerals from smaller cobalt producers and sell it to Congo Dongfang Mining (CDM), a subsidiary of Chinese mineral purveyor Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt Ltd. (Huayou Cobalt). From there the cobalt moves on to three battery manufacturers in China and South Korea, ultimately trickling down to consumer products sold by major brands.
The non-profit groups conducted interviews with 87 current and former cobalt miners, including 17 children, from five small mines in the southern DRC last year, the report said. As cobalt is not defined as a "conflict mineral" under US standards, corporations are not obliged to publish supply chain transparency reports regarding mining sources, meaning there is little to no regulation of the worldwide market. In practice, companies are left to police their own suppliers.
In reaction to the findings, Amnesty is calling on multinational corporations using lithium-ion batteries to conduct basic human rights due diligence and audit their respective supply chains.
For its part, Apple told Amnesty it was unable to determine the origin of the cobalt used in its batteries, nor could the company confirm a connection to CDM/Huayou Cobalt. Other manufacturers offered similar statements, saying it is either difficult or impossible to trace material sources back to DRC.
"Underage labour is never tolerated in our supply chain and we are proud to have led the industry in pioneering new safeguards," Apple said in a statement to the BBC. "We are currently evaluating dozens of different materials, including cobalt, in order to identify labour and environmental risks as well as opportunities for Apple to bring about effective, scalable and sustainable change."
As the world's largest tech company, Apple has been under media scrutiny for years, especially when it comes to human rights violations. Taking a proactive position, Apple has built out a comprehensive supply chain monitoring system, with a stringent set of guidelines, yearly transparency reports and special funding initiatives to ensure adequate living conditions for overseas workers. For example, the company looked into underage worker claims in 2010, while subsequent Supplier Responsibility Reports uncovered further abuse in 2013. As a result of its findings, Apple imposed sanctions on or ceased to do business with offending firms.
When a supplier is found in violation of underage hiring policies, Apple forces the company to pay the employee to return home, finance an education selected by the worker or their family, continue to pay out wages and offer them a job when of legal working age. With substantial leverage as the world's largest tech company, Apple is in a position to demand rigid adherence to its supply chain regulations.
The report, published on Monday by Amnesty and DPR non-profit Afrewatch, claims children as young as seven years old are mining for cobalt that makes its way into the supply chains of high-tech companies including Apple, Samsung, Sony and Microsoft, as well as electric car makers like Daimler and Volkswagen.
According to Amnesty, traders purchase mined minerals from smaller cobalt producers and sell it to Congo Dongfang Mining (CDM), a subsidiary of Chinese mineral purveyor Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt Ltd. (Huayou Cobalt). From there the cobalt moves on to three battery manufacturers in China and South Korea, ultimately trickling down to consumer products sold by major brands.
The non-profit groups conducted interviews with 87 current and former cobalt miners, including 17 children, from five small mines in the southern DRC last year, the report said. As cobalt is not defined as a "conflict mineral" under US standards, corporations are not obliged to publish supply chain transparency reports regarding mining sources, meaning there is little to no regulation of the worldwide market. In practice, companies are left to police their own suppliers.
In reaction to the findings, Amnesty is calling on multinational corporations using lithium-ion batteries to conduct basic human rights due diligence and audit their respective supply chains.
For its part, Apple told Amnesty it was unable to determine the origin of the cobalt used in its batteries, nor could the company confirm a connection to CDM/Huayou Cobalt. Other manufacturers offered similar statements, saying it is either difficult or impossible to trace material sources back to DRC.
"Underage labour is never tolerated in our supply chain and we are proud to have led the industry in pioneering new safeguards," Apple said in a statement to the BBC. "We are currently evaluating dozens of different materials, including cobalt, in order to identify labour and environmental risks as well as opportunities for Apple to bring about effective, scalable and sustainable change."
As the world's largest tech company, Apple has been under media scrutiny for years, especially when it comes to human rights violations. Taking a proactive position, Apple has built out a comprehensive supply chain monitoring system, with a stringent set of guidelines, yearly transparency reports and special funding initiatives to ensure adequate living conditions for overseas workers. For example, the company looked into underage worker claims in 2010, while subsequent Supplier Responsibility Reports uncovered further abuse in 2013. As a result of its findings, Apple imposed sanctions on or ceased to do business with offending firms.
When a supplier is found in violation of underage hiring policies, Apple forces the company to pay the employee to return home, finance an education selected by the worker or their family, continue to pay out wages and offer them a job when of legal working age. With substantial leverage as the world's largest tech company, Apple is in a position to demand rigid adherence to its supply chain regulations.
Comments
Well another reason not to buy a more expensive to run electric car !
The new green peace, use some companies name to get the press to notice. Why doesn't News organization head over to the Congo and do a real time report and show the mines and go inside and show the kids working. Yeah they will all end up dead.
By the way, with all this pressure on the Congo to stop this kind of activities, will just cause them to do mass killings like they have done in the past. These places do not care, and the US and other countries an their stupid games just cause these places in the world more issues. If it not one thing it is another.
Haven't we heard about this last year. and the year before, and before.
Often it's a few young people who lied about their age, or the company knew they lied about their age, to get it.
This is often not systematic even when it does exist.
The fact is, if this is happening with Apple, it's likely happening with everyone else because Apple is probably the most responsible and vocal when it comes to Supplier Responsibility.
Now, while I do believe Cook does care about such things, and also feel this is part of the core of Apple's values, this responsibility should not be seen as altruism in business.
To to others who wrote comments about picking on Apple, read the entire thing. I, for one, want to know what's going on with all things Apple. Thanks, Mikey, for keeping me informed.
I found a report, (http://www.idigitaltimes.com/your-smartphone-created-slave-labor-among-major-tech-companies-only-nokia-can-prove-its-factory) in which Apple, LG Electronics, Microsoft and Samsung scored a B overall, only slightly lower scores than the B+ for the leader Nokia. The report noted that Apple's ranking may be surprising given the media attention Apple has received for poor working conditions and child labor. They concluded that Apple's ranking near the top was not because their supply chains were free of abuse, but rather that they were doing more to address these issues.
Apple just can't seem to win with these media hit pieces and a public that thinks there is still truth in journalism.
It's the headline which is a cheap attempt to grab intersect and clicks by singling out Apple. Sure - the article clarifies that it's not just Apple - but the headline is misleading and it gives a negative impression to those that just scan the headlines and don't read the full article.
I've had countless break room conversations over the years that are started by various co-workers that have just scanned the headlines. They'll announce loudly, to anyone that'll listen "So...I hear Apple is hiring 7-year olds to make their phones!" - and of course no one wants to listen to the full explanation.
The headline is a cheap attempt to grab clicks.