The U.S. wants to disrupt the export flow to China by investing in Congo and Zambia to not only extract minerals but also process, manufacture and assemble them into batteries and help the United States meet its domestic supply goals.
So what?
Labor abuses are well known in the Congolese cobalt sector, which provides 70 percent of the world’s supply. Both Amnesty International and the U.S. Labor Department have documented human rights violations such as forced child labor. Could the US’s increased involvement influence and demand better labour conditions or exacerbate the issue and focus solely on meeting demand?
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