An exhausted young boy makes a heartbreaking sight as he picks through mountains of huge rocks with his small hands.
Dorsen is one of the many children, some younger than five years old, working in polluted mines of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where they could develop a deadly lung condition, skin disease, and red dust burns their eyes.
To earn only 8p a day, children need to check rocks for streaks of cobalt – the main ingredient required for batteries that power electric vehicles.
It is feared that thousands of more kids are experiencing this daily struggle after Britain pledged to ban the sale of diesel and petrol cars from 2040 to make way for electric cars.
There is no doubt that the ban has good intentions as it will eliminate pollution. However, many children working in the mines of the Democratic Republic of Congo struggle to achieve the goal.
8-year-old Dorsen is only one of the 40,000 children working every day, and the price they will pay in exchange for clean air is bad health and probably early death.
Big motor companies wanting to produce millions of electric cars purchase cobalt from the central African state, the world’s main producer with 60% of the world’s reserves.
Cobalt is mined by unregulated labor and brought to Asia where manufacturers of battery use it to make the products lighter, rechargeable and longer-lasting.
Compared to a smartphone battery that uses no more than 10g of refined cobalt, an electric vehicle requires 15kg.
However, cobalt is also a health hazard that it even has a respiratory condition named after it. Cobalt lung is a form of pneumonia that results in permanent incapacity and in worse cases, death.
It is not known how many children have passed away mining cobalt in the region but the UN estimates 80 people per year but others go unregistered. Many survive but with severe diseases.
In a country ruined by civil wars and millions lost their lives, there’s no other way for families to thrive.
One internet user commented: “the problem is the employer, not the concept of clean energy. If someone employed a 5 year old to fish for cod, would you call for a ban on fish and chips?”
Another said: “It is unfortunate what they have to endure to make a living, but thats what they are doing. If you all of a sudden decide to stop using the cobalt they are “forced” to mine, then what will they do? They use the money they make to buy food.”
A third added: “The things some people go through in life is crazy – those kids deserve to have a future. Some people take life for granted sadly.”
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Replaced!