These minerals are sourced either from legal government controlled mines or from illegal operations, run by rebels who use enslaved labour – often children as young as eight years.

These children are often forcibly taken from their homes by armed criminal gangs and set to work in dangerous conditions digging for tantalum, gold and other minerals. These children also have little or no intrinsic value to their captors and can often die with no record or accountability. At present the UK and EU have little or no substantial legislation in place to mitigate this process, unlike the US, which has the Frank Dodd legal framework, signed by President Obama in 2010.

This podcast addresses these concerns and provides some momentum towards the realisation and implementation of substantial EU legislation in 2021.