Tesla Actually Doesn’t “Tolerate The Death & Maiming Of Young Child Miners”
While watching Tesla’s shareholder livestream, Terry Collingsworth, a human rights lawyer representing the Sisters of Good Shepherd, presented his thoughts on Proposal 7 for the 2020 Tesla shareholder meeting. Proposal 7 put forth the idea that Tesla should provide additional reporting on human rights.
“My organization brought the pending suit against Tesla for using cobalt mined in the Democratic Republic of Congo by young children. I personally met young boys who lost limbs or were paralyzed in cobalt tunnel collapse. Tesla sources cobalt from these very mines and its or has claimed to have “zero-tolerance for child labor” in its supplier is simply not true. Tesla is not only tolerating child labor in its cobalt sc it is tolerating the death and maiming of young child miners.”
In regards to human rights, I believe that all companies should do their part. Tesla has indeed taken a stand against child labor. Tesla recently joined the newly formed Fair Cobalt Alliance (FCA), Tesmanianreported. FCA is committed to ending child labor in mining operations and improving working conditions in Congo. FCA is also backed by Glencore Plc.
Glencore is the company that has been struggling to get one of its mines back from artisanal miners who use child or slave labor. The mine in question, the Tilwezembe concession, has been overrun by artisanal miners since 2011.
I think that accusing Tesla of “tolerating the death and maiming of young child miners” is not only harsh and unfair, but also insinuates that Tesla, not those who are actually enslaving children, is responsible. It also insinuates that the government of the DRC is not responsible for what’s going on in its own country. Glencore has tried many times to get the DRC to resolve the situation, and it has repeatedly shared concerns about the labor conditions there.