Slavery in Congo
By Adrian Lescano
June 5, 2024
Slavery. We have been taught about this since we were very young individuals. Such as slavery in the U.S. that happened in the 13th to 17th century. Or the Triangular Slave Trade. But this loathsome epoch happened centuries ago. What about today? What is happening with slavery today? Schools don’t speak about it. Media rarely does unless you specifically search for it. Slavery today is at an all-time high in countries such as India, North Korea, and the Republic of Congo being on the leaderboard. What is going on in the Congo?
Cobalt is an interesting material that is one of the main parts of building batteries for phones, cars, computers, etc. The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has more cobalt reserves than the entire world combined. Since cobalt is such a popular and essential resource to our way of living today, it is mined in immense amounts legally and mainly illegally.
People who are “hired” to “work” in these illegal mines are forced to crawl in unsafe shafts where tons of rock and dirt could fall on them at any time. They have to inhale dust every day for endless hours for a shamefully diminutive pay. These people have no choice as the mines have taken over everything, destroying forests and fauna, and diminishing all life for greed. Not only adults, but all children are forced to labor otherwise they don’t have enough money to eat for the day and the day after. If they are not efficient, then adults or children will be executed.
It’s a sad reality and there is not much a single person can do. Cobalt is essential to our lives and it has penetrated too deep so there is no way stopping the mining of this resource is a solution. But the way the people are treated can be solved. It all depends on not what we believe, but what we do.
Many foundations are trying to stop this madness, but few center in the country of Congo. One of them is the “Friend of the Congo”