The video shows women and very young children mining minerals in the Democratic Republic of Congo – including cobalt and other rare earths needed for modern technologies such as smartphones, laptops and electric cars. The harsh working conditions are obvious: people often work without protective clothing or appropriate equipment, and the landscape is shaped by the extraction process. This picture shows the dark side of the technology industry, illustrating the brutal conditions and often unprotected work under which these valuable resources are extracted. It is particularly shocking that children are also involved in these dangerous extraction processes, which raises the question of ethical responsibility and fair pay in the global supply chain.
It makes you think about how technological progress in the modern world comes at the expense of people and their quality of life and how unequally the benefits are distributed.
