Renewable energy synonymous with 'modern slavery' suggests Australian Human Rights Commission

International enthusiasm for renewable energies results in abuses in terms of human rights with workers and indigenous populations being exploited abusively.

By Daniel Khmelev for The Epoch Times (2021)

Source : https://www.epochtimes.fr/lenergie-renouvelable-donne-lieu-a-lesclavage-selon-la-commission-australienne-des-droits-de-lhomme-1903410.html

Energy companies in Australia will now be required to submit an annual report to the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHCR) on the steps they will take to prevent ' modern slavery' in supply chains. supply of renewable energies.

The report released by the AHRC in collaboration with KPMG Australia highlights worrying allegations regarding solar, wind and battery production technologies. In all three areas, there are references to adults and children being exploited in supply chains, working in precarious and dangerous conditions, underpaid or unpaid.

The Commission found that the international enthusiasm for renewable energies has led to a rapid deployment of the sector to meet demand, resulting in abuses in terms of human rights with workers and indigenous populations being exploited abusively.

China, for example, the world's largest producer of solar panels, has placed millions of ethnic Uyghur, Kyrgyz and Kazakh citizens from Xinjiang in forced labor camps who were found to be involved in supply chains global manufacturers of solar panels.

“Modern slavery risks are increased when there is a change in supply strategy and high volumes of manufactured goods are required in the short term ,” the report said. “The shift to renewable energy has revealed a number of emerging risk areas related to modern slavery in the energy companies’ supply chain. »

Australia, which holds the world record for deploying rooftop solar panels, has no domestic solar cell production capacity and imports 90% of its solar panels from China.

Likewise, the report highlights that the growing demand for wind energy has created precarious working conditions and environmental degradation on logging operations in the Amazon.

But the Commission's biggest concern is the supply of cobalt: a crucial component of lithium-ion batteries (now used in everything from smartphones to electric vehicles to computers). The supply of cobalt, the report explains, is “strongly linked to risks of modern slavery” .

“More than half of the world's supply is mined in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where a significant proportion comes from artisanal mines, where miners – many of them children – work in dangerous conditions for minimal pay . ” the report said.

A class action lawsuit filed on behalf of parents and children from the DRC against 5 US tech giants has alleged frequent accidents during cobalt mining operations, resulting in serious bodily harm or death.

“The young children who mine defendants' cobalt are not only forced to work full-time in extremely dangerous mines, to the detriment of their education and future; they are regularly mutilated and killed by tunnel collapses and other known dangers common to cobalt mining in the DRC ,” reads the complaint.

According to the American think tank Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), more than 70% of the world's cobalt is produced in the DRC, including 15 to 30% in small artisanal mines.

Businesses will have to report annually on their efforts to address slavery risks or risk breaching Australia's Modern Slavery Act 2018.

“The global context of decarbonization means that the supply chains of companies in the resources and energy sector are evolving rapidly and are increasingly intertwined . ”

“This rapid evolution means that companies must question themselves and carefully analyze where risks to populations may exist in their operations and supply chains. They must also focus their attention on areas of emerging risks resulting from the energy transition ,” the report concludes.