DESIGNER

Jayden Allen

PROFILE/DESCRIPTION

How 'modern-day slavery' in the Congo powers the rechargeable battery economy

Smartphones, computers and electric vehicles may be emblems of the modern world, but, says Siddharth Kara, their rechargeable batteries are frequently powered by cobalt mined by workers laboring in slave-like conditions in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Many tech companies, including Microsoft, Apple, and Samsung have been in hot water lately due to their use of slave labor in the Congo. This slave labor additionally includes young children, elderly people, and pregnant people, who are in horrific conditions. Many are becoming physically ill due to working in caves, with dust particles giving them lung damage.