Cobbled by Cobalt: Forced Child Labor in Cobalt Mines in the DRC

Gravity FM

Cobalt, Chocolate, Blood and Corporate Impunity

Discussion with Terry Collingsworth on forced child labor in cobalt mines in the DRC and his Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) case against American tech companies which knowingly benefit from the cheap cobalt mined by children. We discuss the legal issues in the case as well as the facts on the ground in the DRC, including the environmental impact of cobalt mining and the maiming and killing of child miners that are lured to extremely hazardous and toxic work in the mines. We also follow from our 2017 episode with Terry, “Chained to Chocolate”, to discuss Terry’s continuing case against Nestlé and other confectionary companies for the knowing use of child slave labor on their cocoa farms in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. We discuss Terry’s TVPRA case and the increase in child enslavement since the filing of the Alien Tort Statute (ATS) case against Nestlé et. al. as well as the pending ATS decision before the United States Supreme Court. We also discuss whether the decision will gut the ATS by exempting corporations from liability under it and the future of ATS claims.

For More Info: http://thegravity.fm/#/episode/45