Is our hunger for new technology dooming DR Congo? | Tv Shows

On Thursday, February 17 at 19:30 GMT:
Extra than 6 billion smartphones are approximated to be in use globally, with their pocket-sized electric power reliant on unusual earths and cherished metals.

Most of us give very little assumed to the origin of the supplies that drive our gadgets. But ‘7 Grams‘, an app that not long ago featured in the New Frontier group at Sundance Film Festival, aims to improve that.

The application blends journalism, augmented fact, and animation to exhibit how international demand from customers for ever-quicker smartphones is harming persons in sections of the Democratic Republic of Congo, wherever minerals and metals important for smartphones and other digital equipment are mined.

It’s thought that about 70 % of the world’s cobalt is developed in DR Congo, significantly of it in the south and east of the place. Though multinational mining companies extract most of this significant metal, a considerable volume is mined by artisans who endure unsafe doing the job ailments. Little one labour is commonplace, even though females frequently support get ready freshly-mined material. Health-related scientists have drawn a website link between workers’ publicity to poisonous trace aspects and start defects in small children.

The dangers do not close at the rock face. With DR Congo however holding an approximated $24 trillion in untapped mineral deposits, some illegal armed teams rely on income from illicit mining to fund their continued functions. Human legal rights groups have documented that these same groups have brutalised civilians.

As multinational firms proceed to count on uncommon minerals in manufacturing, families in DR Congo have just lately sought to emphasize the impact of mining upon them. In December 2019 Apple, Tesla, Dell, Microsoft and Google were mentioned as defendants in a lawsuit submitted on behalf of 14 people who say their small children were being killed or injured while mining cobalt. All 5 providers denied obligation. Whilst the situation was at some point dismissed in November 2021, attorneys for the households have filed a observe of attractiveness.

In this episode of The Stream, we’ll search at how ‘Seven Grams’ highlights the human toll of mineral mining in DR Congo that is driven by the international hunger for digital equipment.

In this episode of The Stream, we are joined by:
Karim Ben Khelifa, @kbenk
Director, ‘Seven Grams’
sevengrams.org/the-challenge

Sara Geenen
Affiliate Professor, College of Antwerp
sarageenen.web

Bossissi Nkuba, @BossissiNkuba
Professor, Catholic College of Bukavu
cegemi.com