China in Africa

Democratic Republic of Congo

• Chinese companies are involved in cobalt mines and have signed contracts with the government in regard of oil exploration.

• Chinese businessmen are supporting informal child labour in the Katanga region in the south of the Democratic Republic of Congo. 65 per cent of the cobalt which is dug and sieved also by eight year old children goes to China via South African and Tanzanian ports. Beside a huge amount of unorganized Chinese traders, Feza Mining, a joint venture between the Chinese company Wambao Resources Corporation and some Congolese businessmen, is shipping ore to China. (article from March 2005 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4351019.stm  | Global Witness (2006): Digging in Corruption – Fraud, abuse and exploitation in Katanga’s copper and cobalt mines)

• According to Global Witness, thousand of workers in Congo’s artisanal mines are working without any safety and health precautions. ( http://www.globalwitness.org/media_library_detail.php/415/en/widespread fraud_and_abuse_in_katangas_copper_and ) 

Click here for the ITUC's Annual Survey of violations of trade union rights.