Mining Misery: Film and debate on cobalt mines in Congo

It is used in batteries, laptops and mobile phones: cobalt. Most cobalt is mined in the Democratic Republic of Congo and frequently involves gross human rights violations.

Cobalt from Congo: whose wealth?

What is going wrong and who is responsible? That’s what was discussed during the exciting and important debate on April 19 by Congolese human rights activist Emmanuel Umpula Nkumba (African Resources Watch-Afrewatch), Dirk-Jan Koch (Special Envoy Natural Resources at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Netherlands), Fleur Scheele (researcher at SOMO) and Carla Neefs (Director Supplier Sustainability, Philips Lighting). Myrthe Verweij screened short documentary ‘Whose Wealth? Cobalt from Congo(opens in new window) ‘, that she made for the GoodElectronics network. The discussion was moderated by Maite Vermeulen (De Correspondent) and took place at the Humanity House in The Hague, The Netherlands.

Organization: Movies that Matter(opens in new window) and GoodElectronics Network(opens in new window) .

Photographs:

Filmmaker Myrthe Verweij and Emmanuel Umpula Nkumba explain the short documentary.

Maite Vermeulen of De Correspondent introduces the panel members.

Dirk-Jan Koch making a point.

Carla Neefs debating.

This debate was made possible with the financial support of the European Union