Study on the Finance and Banking Sectors’ Roles in Advancing Child Rights in Cobalt Supply Chains in the DRC

The Centre, in collaboration with Save the Children Netherlands, has launched a study that focuses on the finance and banking sectors’ roles in advancing child rights in cobalt supply chains in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The study supplements a study published by The Centre and Save the Children Germany in December 2022, which explored the child rights situation in artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) in the DRC and the role companies sourcing from the DRC can play to address child rights challenges and create opportunities. 

By conducting a study that focuses on the finance sector, The Centre and Save the Children Netherlands aims to highlight the various points at which investors, lenders and insurers are linked to cobalt supply chains in the DRC and recommend best practices for investors that address child rights issues more.

The study demonstrates how actors in the Dutch finance and banking sectors (and elsewhere) can use their leverage to affect positive change for children and address child rights issues –  in particular child labour risks in the cobalt supply chains – in cobalt mining, including in supply chains several tiers deep. 

Please click here to access the full study.