Browsing by Author "Rozani, Akhona Somila"

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    Child labour in mining in India and the DRC : two case studies
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2022-04) Rozani, Akhona Somila; Hattingh, Johann; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. School of Public Leadership.
    ENGLISH SUMMARY: Child mining is an environmental issue because mining is an environmental issue and children occupy and utilise the environment. As part of the fulfilments of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), there has been an international commitment to eradicate child labour by 2025. Children in artisanal small-scale mines (ASM) work up to twelve hours in the mines, without any protective gear, are exposed to high concentrations of radioactive cobalt, susceptible to various health complications; and the lack of access to public healthcare is a further violation of their human rights. Data from the ILO shows that in 2016 more than 40 million people were victims of modern slavery and 152 million children aged 5 to 17 were engaged in child labour. This data informs the research questions that guide the dimensions of my thesis and what I aim to address, and they are firstly, how do the different stakeholders in society, including communities, companies, NGOs, and the state respond to child labour? Secondly, how effective are current policies purporting to address child labour in mining, if at all, and in which respects do they fail (and why)? And finally, what are the gaps in current policies, and what can be done to improve upon them? In order to answer the research questions, peer-reviewed articles and books were consulted as well as journalistic works and reports from activist groups. The industrial revolution in Britain provided a historical context of child labour, as discussed in the Introduction. The review of literature illustrated the inadequacy of the one-size-fits-all model and the moral issues of discounting the value of the poor and disenfranchised, and allocating the rich all the power, a point that will be illustrated by my case studies. Two case studies were conducted, one of child labour in the mining of mica in India (Jharkhand Province), and one of child labour in the mining of cobalt in the Katanga Province of the Democratic Republic Congo. The DRC has taken notable actions to formalise its artisanal cobalt mines as a way of managing the sector due to the increasing international pressure and Huayou Cobalt, Volkswagen, and Tesla have joined in helping the government ensure “ethical and safer practices” are upheld in the electronics industry. However, the involvement and inclusion of the child miners’ stories and experiences in these responses is still at the foundation phase of creating awareness and providing information. I further argue that theoretical frameworks such as the Jharkhand Sustainable Mica Policy Framework and those discussed in the DRC case study seem to be the closest models of the multi-stakeholder outlook towards ending child mining that I propose. With a global shift to formalising the ASM sector, the question I pose in the final instance is whether 10g of cobalt in my cell phone’s battery, or 15kg in an electric car’s battery is really worth it.