Children working in Madagascar’s mica mines have complained of health issues including respiratory problems.
Photograph: Jan-Joseph Stok/Terre des Hommes
Children as young as five make up more than half the number of miners scavenging for mica in Madagascar, according to a leading child rights group.
A year-long investigation by Terre des Hommes Netherlands found that
at least 11,000 children between the ages of five and 17 are employed in
quarrying and processing the shimmery, heat-resistant mineral, which is
used in everything from makeup to car paint and hugely prevalent in the automotive and electronics industry.
Children comprise as much as 62% of the overall mining workforce,
researchers found, with miners descending deep into the ground to cut
the mica by hand.
The work is dangerous, with children complaining of aching muscles, open sores and respiratory problems, according to the report, published this week by Terre des Hommes and the Dutch Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations.
The child labourers helping luxury cars sparkle
“The fact that more than half of all the miners are under-age is
shocking and should be seen as a global call to action,” said Jos de
Voogd of Terre des Hommes.
“Nearly 90% of all the mica mined in Madagascar is being exported
directly to China, and our research found that none of the companies
involved are doing their due diligence to find out where their product
is coming from or what working conditions are like. They need to take
responsibility and stop child exploitation.”
Drought, instability and extreme poverty in Madagascar’s southern
regions, where the mica mines are located, force entire families to
descend to the mines together to scavenge, dig and process the mineral
artisanally, according to the report. Of the 13 mines visited by
researchers, only two had valid licenses.
Adult and child miners alike are paid just 34p a kilo – less than
half of what is paid in India, despite exports having jumped by a factor
of 30 since 2008, according to the report.
After a series of high-profile investigations into the mica industry
in India – where 20,000 children were employed and 90% of mines were
believed to be operating without licenses – the Indian government vowed in 2017 to legalise mining of the prized mineral. Yet according to an exposé published this week by the Thomson Reuters Foundation, illegal mining remains rampant in Jharkhand, a major mica mining state where children continue to work – and die – while scavenging for the mineral.
Madagascar is the third-largest mica exporter in the world, with
earnings worth an estimated $6.5m (£5m) in 2017, according to the
report. The impoverished island nation has surpassed India as the
largest exporter of sheet mica, which is used in cars and airplanes for
electrical and thermal insulation, yet three-quarters of Madagascar’s 25.6 million inhabitants live on less than $1.90 a day.
Researchers found that even if the young children scavenging for mica
worked a full day, their salary was never enough for them to afford
more than one meal.
“Sadly this kind of appalling abuse is all too common in mineral
supply chains,” said Eniko Horvath of the international corporate
watchdog Business and Human Rights Resource Centre.
“This report underlines the need for companies to undertake rigorous
human rights due diligence throughout their supply chains to prevent
abuse of vulnerable workers and communities.”
Mica from Madagascar ends up in wires, cables, appliances, the
automotive industry, and beyond, according to Terre des Hommes.
Approximately 87% of all the mica mined is transported by boat to China,
where it is further processed or sent to companies. Roughly 100
importers and exporters – some of them high-profile electronics
companies – were identified by researchers, but only 30 were approached
for comment. Of those, only two responded, according to Terre des
Hommes.
Children and adults fill bags with mica to be transported away by a truck. Photograph: Jan-Joseph Stok/Terre des Hommes
The NGO is calling for companies to investigate all aspects of their
mica supply chains and get involved in programmes aimed at improving
working conditions for miners, such as the Responsible Mica Initiative in India.
“We are not calling for a boycott on mica from Madagascar, because
the people in the region where it is mined are very poor and they depend
on mica and the income it provides,” said De Voogd.
“But the exploitation of children must stop, and companies need to
take action to pay adult miners higher prices so they can earn a proper
living wage as well.
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