In 2020, videos went viral of BLM protests in Belgium demanding that all statues of King Leopold II be removed. This moment held a glaring contradiction, one that may be the hallmark of our challenges in the 21st century: the smartphones spreading awareness of past colonial injustices towards the Congolese people are dependent on cobalt mined in arguably the same slave-like conditions that have been imposed on the Congolese people for hundreds of years.
Now, let me ask you a question. Do you have a smartphone? A Laptop? An iPad? Maybe two or maybe all three? In 2023, 5.25 billion people use smartphones, that is around 66% of the total world’s population; additionally, 83% of Gen Z own a laptop, they are the teenagers and young adults of our generation. Who in Sentinel can say that they do not own a rechargeable device? Without at least a laptop, they cannot even finish their homework and upload it onto Google Classroom? I am also guilty of this, having used three different Apple devices to write this article. Almost everyone in the Western world can name the best-selling phone brand, but can anyone name the components that make up a smartphone, its most crucial parts, the materials and the supply chain of those materials? Not likely.
Our demand-generated society arguably focuses solely on benefits of the individual or an in-group, yet we fail to realize that inclusivity is crucial to actual the growth and improvement of Sapiens as a whole. Our cupidity and over-reliance on technology blinds us from realizing that there are still a lot of underlying problems that need to be solved. Cobalt is one of those concerns.
Cobalt, one of the six critical minerals, is crucial to every phone, computer, and electric vehicle (EV) battery. Its distinct chemical properties boost batteries’ energy density, enhancing longevity and capacity. However, while the proliferation of these devices in our economies accelerates, cobalt reserves remain extremely limited. The Democratic Republic of the Congo(DRC) alone contains 46% of global reserves and 71% of global production, making DRC's cobalt geopolitically essential for all major countries. Unfortunately, a geopolitically important country is not always a wealthy country, as the DRC’s actual GDP per capita ranks among the lowest in the world. This low GDP on paper is mirrored by human rights abuses on the ground. In 2016, Amnesty International reported the grim realities of cobalt mining in the DRC: exploitative labour practices, hazardous working conditions, child labour, and artisanal mining. Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) refers to any informal mining done using rudimentary technology. ASM in the DRC is a desperate means of survival where people earn under $2.00 a day hand-digging in tunnels, risking collapses, breathing toxic fumes, and suffering uranium poisoning. The revised Mining Code of the Democratic Republic of Congo states all the rules surrounding mineral extraction and is acceptable as the law. However, the implementation of this law is a problem.
Deferred responsibility accounts for the vagueness of who is responsible for exploiting the Congolese people. Is it the companies? Is it the government selling the contracts? Consumers buying the products? What are the parameters of such responsibility? Mining companies argue they do not employ artisanal miners, despite permitting them in their mines. The Congolese government argues that financial constraints restrict them from
supporting workers, despite billions of dollars in revenue from royalties and mining concessions. Cobalt refineries, technology companies and electric vehicle companies shift responsibility downstream, even while they drive the demand for renewable batteries up. We as consumers are the demand motivating companies to competitively procure more cobalt, all while working the Congolese people to impoverished deaths. This is the “great tragedy” of the DRC’s mining provinces: no one can agree on how much responsibility they bear, if any at all.
In conclusion, how should we, as individuals or as the Sentinel student body, deal with this kind of issue? In school, we learn about the history of slavery and understand the grave human rights and moral issues surrounding it; we advocate for the truth and reconciliation of the exploitation and oppression of Indigenous people. We understand all of this, yet we are ignorantly participating in modern day slavery. A child might have died just to bring the 10 grams of cobalt needed for your smartphone–that you are probably using to read this article. Our every purchase of a rechargeable device or any object that operates based on a lithium-ion battery would be propelling the demand of those objects, thus increasing the extraction of cobalt. So, what next? Meaningless actions such as stopping traffic to bring about a cause would only result in the opposite and incite public anger. Should we all return to letter writing and abandon our smartphones? Should we all return to hand-writing and searching for information in the library and abandon our laptops? Should we all do this until the market provides us with something that aligns with our declared values? The most direct solution could be to resist buying another smartphone— but even that’s easier said than done.
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