New legislation has been introduced to stop cobalt, which is extracted or processed with the use of child or forced labor in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), from entering the U.S. market.
The legislation, HR 7891, was introduced on April 16 by Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ), who is also the Chair of the House Global Human Rights Subcommittee.
Cobalt is a key natural resource used to power electric vehicles, solar panels, and other purportedly “green” products. Around 90 percent of it originates from CCP-owned mines in the DRC.
“The Communist Chinese government—which has gained almost full dominance of every single step of the cobalt supply chain—profits from child and forced labor used to extract cobalt in the Democratic Republic of Congo and power our so-called ‘green economy,’” according to an April 16 press release by Mr. Smith’s office.
Mr. Smith, who also serves as Chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China and Co-Chair of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, said that the United States must end child exploitation in mines and vastly reduce its dependency on the Chinese regime.
“The United States must stop aiding and abetting Communist China’s egregious exploitation of children—some as young as six years old—and start becoming less dependent on Xi Jinping’s brutal dictatorship,” said Mr. Smith.
HR 7891—also known as the “Stop China’s Exploitation of Congolese Children and Adult Forced Labor through Cobalt Mining Act”—is specifically aimed at establishing the extent to which forced and child labor is utilized in the cobalt mining industry of the DRC, via a comprehensive investigation by the U.S. Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force.
Furthermore, it serves to implement new strategies to ensure that cobalt mined by forced labor does not enter the U.S. market.
Chairman Rep. Jason Smith (R-Mo.) of the House Ways and Means Committee has offered extensive input on the proposed legislation. His committee, which has jurisdiction over it, is seeking to fast-track a vote on April 17.
“America has long fought to end child and adult forced labor, yet the cobalt vital to the batteries in our technology is unethically mined with the use of forced labor under Chinese control,” he said.
“This legislation is a critical step to blocking material tainted by these inhumane labor practices from entering this country. I am thankful to Rep. Chris Smith for introducing this legislation to stop these dangerous practices.”
The legislation was conceived partly from testimony provided at a congressional hearing in November last year, which Mr. Smith chaired. The hearing “exposed the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) egregious exploitation of Congolese children and forced laborers, who toil in hazardous conditions to extract cobalt from unsafe mines including artisanal mines in the DRC,” according to the April 16 press release.
Previous testimony provided at a hearing by Fr. Rigobert Minani Bihuzo, a Catholic priest from the DRC, provided a basis for November’s hearing.
“The number of artisanal and small-scale mining sites from the Ituri region to Lake Tanganyika is estimated to be 1,000 and the number of artisanal miners to be 200,000 people, among them thousands of children and pregnant women,” stated Mr. Bihuzo.
“The artisanal mines “are often no more than narrow shafts dug into the ground, which is why children are recruited—and in many cases forced—to descend into them, using only their hands or rudimentary tools without any protective equipment, to extract cobalt and other minerals,” according to Mr. Smith.
The congressman went on to state that those benefiting most from cobalt mining are also those who choose to remain silent on the issue and are unwilling to face the inconvenient truth that the entire cobalt industry is built on a system of extortion, cruelty, and corruption.
Mr. Smith has been an outspoken critic of the CCP’s inhumane approach to global trade, having previously authored the China Trade Relations Act (HR638), which stipulates that China must end its abominable human rights violations if it wishes to enjoy normal trade relations with the United States.
The CCP has been utilizing slave and forced labor not only abroad but also within its own boundaries.
For decades, the CCP has been imprisoning ethnic minority groups such as Uyghur Muslims, as well as persecuting House Christians and Falun Gong practitioners for their faiths. Many of the imprisoned end up in labor camps, where they are forced to work under dire conditions in excess of 15 hours a day.
Many adherents of Falun Gong, a peaceful spiritual practice that promotes Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance, have also been subjected to torture and live organ harvesting for the purposes of profit by the CCP.
