U.S. court sides with Apple, Tesla, other tech companies over child labour in Africa

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled in favour of Alphabet, Apple, Dell, Microsoft and Tesla, rejecting an appeal by former child miners and their representatives.

A federal appeals court on Tuesday refused to hold five major technology companies liable over their alleged support for the use of child labor in cobalt mining operations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

In a 3-0 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled in favour of Google parent Alphabet , Apple, Dell Technologies, Microsoft and Tesla, rejecting an appeal by former child miners and their representatives.

The plaintiffs accused the five companies of joining suppliers in a "forced labour" venture by purchasing cobalt, which is used to make lithium-ion batteries that are widely used in electronics. Nearly two-thirds of the world's cobalt comes from the DRC.

According to the complaint, the companies "deliberately obscured" their dependence on child labour, including many children pressured into work by hunger and extreme poverty, to ensure their growing need for the metal would be met.

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The 16 plaintiffs included representatives of five children who were killed in cobalt mining operations.

But the appeals court said buying cobalt in the global supply chain did not amount to "participation in a venture" under a federal law protecting children and other victims of human trafficking and forced labor.