Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, has provided the following answer to your written parliamentary question (HL10297):
Question by Lord Alton:
To ask His Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to their counterparts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in relation to the issues of fair pricing and child labour in the cobalt mining industry; and what practical assistance they have provided to that country to address these issues. (HL10297)
Tabled on: 19 September 2023
Answer:
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon:
Illicit mining in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the use of child labour remains a problem. We regularly raise the issue of child labour in DRC’s mining sector both with the DRC government and through multilateral fora such as the Human Rights Council. The UK supports the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) which aims to improve transparency and governance in the mining sector. The UK provided funding to the “Effective Approaches to Ending the Worst Forms of Child Labour in Fragile Contexts”, a multi-stakeholder consortium which develops innovative approaches to ending child labour in DRC. In addition, the Home Office is funding work through the Modern Slavery Innovation Fund with the objective of strengthening partnerships to prevent and remedy forced labour in supply chains from DRC.
Date and time of answer: 03 Oct 2023 at 16:05.
====
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, has provided the following answer to your written parliamentary question (HL10215):
Question by Lord Alton of Liverpool:
To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the prevalence of child labour in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, especially in the cobalt mining industry. (HL10215)
Tabled on: 18 September 2023
Answer:
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon:
We continue to monitor reports of modern slavery within the mining sector of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), especially in cobalt mining. The artisanal mining sector is particularly vulnerable to modern slavery and human rights abuses, with regular reports of the worst forms of child labour (WFCL). The UK Government remains committed to eradicating all forms of modern slavery, forced labour and human trafficking in line with achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goal 8.7 by 2030. In September 2023, the UK funded the participation of survivors of modern slavery in workshops developing the DRC’s Country Roadmap towards achieving Goal 8.7. The UK has supported efforts to end the worst forms of child labour in countries such as the DRC, Ethiopia and Central African Republic through the Partnership Against Child Exploitation (PACE) programme.
Date and time of answer: 03 Oct 2023 at 11:50.
