Congolese civil society has reservations about the figure of 361,000 put forward as the number of children working in copper and cobalt mines in the provinces of Haut Katanga and Lualaba, and is calling on UNICEF to check its statistics objectively with supporting sources.

On the sidelines of DRC Mining Week, human rights organizations specializing in natural resources in the DRC, and more specifically in the copper and cobalt sector, were stunned to hear a statement by Grant Leaity, UNICEF’s representative in the DRC, claiming that some 361,000 children are currently working in copper and cobalt mines in the provinces of Haut-Katanga and Lualaba.

While welcoming UNICEF’s willingness to support the Congolese authorities in child protection, the NGOs that signed this declaration note that these figures are out of step with the current context in this sector and do not correspond to recent data, the results of our research carried out over the last 12 months. These figures even call into question UNICEF’s  own  work in the DRC For evidence:

• In 2014, UNICEF quoted a figure of 40,000 children working in copper and cobalt mines in the DRC. Despite all the efforts made by UNICEF itself, by the Congolese government, by national and international NGOs and by the children’s parents, it is unimaginable that ten years later, these figures have risen to almost ten times higher, without providing the slightest proof. On the contrary, the work carried out would reduce them to almost ten times less.
• In 2016, AFREWATCH and Amnesty International published a report entitled “This is why we die: human rights abuses in the Democratic Republic of Congo fuel the global cobalt market“. Following this publication, awareness-raising work was carried out by both the Congolese government and other stakeholders, in particular NGOs, with the aim of reducing or even ending child labour in the DRC’s copper and cobalt mines;
• A number of other programs have been put in place to combat the presence and work of children in certain artisanal mines, and these have helped to significantly reduce their numbers;
• More generally, fieldwork carried out by Resource Matters in November-December 2023 to map the artisanal sector revealed a sharp decline in artisanal activity on certain formerly heavily mined sites, due in particular to the fall in the price of cobalt. Proportionally, the number of children present in the quarries should follow the same downward trend, rather than the explosive figure presented by UNICEF.

Given that such statements are likely to bring the DRC’s mining sector in general, and the energy transition minerals sector in particular, into disrepute;

Without wishing to apologize for human rights violations in general, and children’s rights in the mining areas of the DRC in particular;

Aware that efforts must be made on an ongoing basis to keep children out of mining operations;

The signatories of this press release ask UNICEF to provide further clarification, in particular on the undisputed sources of the figure of 361,000 children in artisanal copper and cobalt mines in the provinces of Haut-Katanga and Lualaba.

Failing this, the signatories recommend that UNICEF withdraw its statement, which would damage the DRC’s mining reputation and call into question all the efforts made by the various stakeholders.

On the other hand, the signatories of this declaration encourage all stakeholders (government, civil society, companies, United Nations agencies, supply chain players, etc.) to work harder to put an end to the phenomenon of children in the mines, by combating its main cause, which is deep poverty, due in particular to the lack of benefits from mining activities for the Congolese people in general, and those living in the mining areas in particular, but continually suffering the negative effects of these operations (displacement without adequate compensation, destruction of the environment, etc.).

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