“The information is out there for companies and consumers to leverage against regimes that promote and prop up exploitative labor practices,” Thea Mei Lee, deputy undersecretary for international affairs, wrote in the report’s opening statement.
The International Labor Organization estimates that 160 million child laborers and 27.6 million forced laborers are working in abusive conditions.
Among them are 40,000 children in the Democratic Republic of Congo who – according to the report – miss school and work to produce cobalt for lithium-ion batteries. The DRC supplies over 70% of the world’s cobalt.
“Entire families may work in cobalt mines in the DRC, and when parents are killed by landslides or collapsing mine shafts, children are orphaned with no option but to continue working,” the report reads. “Both adults and children are also trafficked to work in eastern…
US government includes Li-ion batteries in list of goods produced by child labor
