GoodWeave International
Donate to GoodWeave’s Cobalt Fund to End Child and Forced Labor in the Congo’s Colbalt Mining Operations
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Together We Can End the Exploitation
Cobalt is used in almost every lithium-ion rechargeable battery on the
planet, ending up in supply chains of smartphones, tablets, laptops, electric vehicles and other major consumer electronic products. The market for these batteries is growing rapidly, estimated to be fourfold by 2030. The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) sits on the world’s largest cobalt deposits, representing more than 70% of global supply, and approximately one-third of this cobalt is extracted from artisanal miners, through a hidden economy where children and adults toil as slaves. For their backbreaking efforts, toxic exposure, immense suffering, and risk of death, artisanal miners typically earn between $0.75 and $2.50 per day. There is currently no way to verify that the end products containing lithium-ion rechargeable batteries by your favorite mobile phone or electric car company are clean from worker exploitation or environmental harm.
About the GoodStone™ Initiative
Through our new GoodStone™ initiative, GoodWeave International and front-line partners in the DRC plan to pilot a project to address child and forced labor in artisanal cobalt mining. This work will include assessing the feasibility of a standard, similar to the GoodWeave Standard, to ensure international human rights and sustainability requirements are maintained by participating mining operations in the DRC. GoodStone™ will also seek pathways to transition children out of artisanal mining and address the root causes of labor exploitation in artisanal cobalt mining through rights awareness, financial literacy and other critical support.
Your donation to the Cobalt Fund will support the design phase work to develop the GoodStone™ initiative, as well as provide support to front-line human rights groups addressing urgent needs of artisanal cobalt miners in the DRC.
To learn more, email GoodStone@goodweave.org.
Photos: © Siddharth Kara
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GoodWeave International is a 501c3, nonprofit organization. All donations are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. GoodWeave acknowledges that no goods or services were given in exchange for this donation.