PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Democratic Republic of Congo: Mining (22 January 2018)

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to the Government of Democratic Republic of Congo on working conditions for children involved in the mining of cobalt.

Asked by:
Anna Turley (Labour)

The UK is concerned about working conditions for children involved in the mining of cobalt in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The DRC is a Foreign and Commonwealth Office Human Rights Priority Country. We will continue to encourage the DRC Government to take concrete steps to improve respect for human rights. Through our existing and future programming in DRC, we hope to eradicate child labour in the mines in the long term.

DFID is working to tackle the root causes of child labour in the mining sector in the DRC. DFID collaborates closely with other Government Departments and through a European Partnership for Responsible Minerals. We provide funding to the Carter Center in the DRC to improve transparency and governance of the sector. DFID DRC is also working with other international partners to consider how we might tackle the issues in the cobalt supply chain in future programme design.

Answered by:
Dame Harriett Baldwin (Conservative)
25 January 2018