CAUGHT BY ALJAZEERA.COM
Abuses occur with the exploitation of essential minerals utilized in renewables. The United Nations must take measures to address them.
Clarissa Mwanza appeared apprehensive as she spoke to me about her employment in mining zinc in central Zambia. Her husband, who worked beside her, was nearly killed in a mining accident last year. When the ground caved in, he damaged his leg and was hospitalized for a month. Other miners who were buried up to their necks suffered catastrophic injuries as well.
Mwanza told me she is particularly concerned about her seven-year-old daughter, who occasionally joins her at the mine to pile rocks into bags. Last year, the girl was diagnosed with lead poisoning, which was most likely caused by the mine’s hazardous, lead-contaminated dirt. Mwanza continues to mine zinc, despite her misgivings. She has no other options.
Zinc is a key metal used for constructing wind turbines and, therefore, necessary for the world’s urgently needed phase-out of fossil fuels and transition to zero-carbon renewable energy systems. The demand for zinc and other minerals necessary for renewable energy – such as lithium, cobalt, manganese, and nickel – is projected to rise sharply in the coming years. Securing so-called critical minerals has become a policy priority for industrialized countries. It. It has prompted a new kind of bilateral and multilateral diplomacy around minerals, such as the Mineral Security Partnership.
In April, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres delivered a moving speech on the role of minerals in the energy transition, urging world leaders: “As we reshape how we power our societies and economies, we cannot replace one dirty, exploitative, extractive industry with another dirty, exploitative, extractive industry. “The race to net zero cannot trample on the poor.”
However, there is a good chance that this is what will happen. Human Rights Watch has documented numerous human rights breaches in mining, including the use of child labor, chemical pollution that endangers health, water scarcity, and police violence.
Abuses occur, particularly in the extraction and processing of transition minerals. Children work in hazardous conditions in cobalt mining; Indigenous people’s rights have beenLithium mining violates environmental laws; manganese processing workers suffer manganese-related ailments; and nickel mining and smelting pollute communities severely.
More Read
Such abuses of international human rights legislation jeopardize the UN Sustainable Development Goals, which include Goal 3 for health, Goal 6 for water access, and Goal 8 for decent work. They also benefit those who oppose the energy transition.
Guterres’ speech launched a new UN body, the Panel on Critical Energy Transition Minerals, which includes states, international agencies, industrial groupings, and a few international NGO organizations. It aims to create “principles to safeguard environmental and social standards and embed justice in the energy transition”.
