Editing Mining (section)

==Human rights==
In addition to the [[environmental impacts]] of mining processes, a prominent criticism pertaining to this form of extractive practice and of mining companies are the [[human rights]] abuses occurring within mining sites and [[communities]] close to them.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Spohr |first1=Maximilian |title=Human Rights Risks in Mining - A Baseline Study |date=January 2016 |publisher=BGR |page=10 |url=https://www.bmz.de/rue/includes/downloads/BGR_MPFPR__2016__Human_Rights_Risks_in_Mining.pdf |access-date=28 December 2020 |archive-date=31 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201031165150/http://www.bmz.de/rue/includes/downloads/BGR_MPFPR__2016__Human_Rights_Risks_in_Mining.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> Frequently, despite being protected by International [[Labor rights]], miners are not given appropriate equipment to provide them with protection from possible mine collapse or from harmful [[pollutants]] and [[chemicals]] expelled during the mining process, work in inhumane conditions spending numerous hours working in extreme heat, darkness and 14 hour workdays with no allocated time for breaks.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Tamufor |first1=Lindlyn |title=Human Rights Violations in Africa's Mining Sector |publisher=Third World Network - Africa |location=Ghana |page=9 |url=http://twnafrica.org/twnaf_humanrights-compilation.pdf |access-date=28 December 2020 |archive-date=18 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210818134145/http://twnafrica.org/twnaf_humanrights-compilation.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Child labor===
[[File:Breaker Boys 1.jpg|thumb|right|[[Breaker boys]]: child workers who broke down coal at a mine in South [[Pittston]], [[Pennsylvania]], United States in the early 20th century]]
Included within the human rights abuses that occur during mining processes are instances of [[Child labour|child labor]]. These instances are a cause for widespread criticism of mining [[cobalt]], a mineral essential for powering modern technologies such as [[laptops]], [[smartphones]] and [[electric vehicles]]. Many of these cases of child laborers are found in the [[Democratic Republic of Congo]]. Reports have risen of children carrying sacks of cobalt weighing 25&nbsp;kg from small mines to local traders<ref>{{cite news |last1=Financial Times |title=Congo, Child Labor and Your Electric Car |url=https://www.ft.com/content/c6909812-9ce4-11e9-9c06-a4640c9feebb |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/https://www.ft.com/content/c6909812-9ce4-11e9-9c06-a4640c9feebb |archive-date=2022-12-10 |url-access=subscription |newspaper=Financial Times |date=7 July 2019 }}</ref> being paid for their work only in food and accommodation. A number of companies such as [[Apple Inc.|Apple]], [[Google]], [[Microsoft]] and [[Tesla, Inc.|Tesla]] have been implicated in lawsuits brought by families whose children were severely injured or killed during mining activities in Congo.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Kelly |first1=Annie |title=Apple and Google named in US lawsuit over Congolese child cobalt mining deaths |url=https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/dec/16/apple-and-google-named-in-us-lawsuit-over-congolese-child-cobalt-mining-deaths |work=The Guardian |access-date=18 January 2021 |date=16 December 2019}}</ref> In December 2019, 14 Congolese families filed a lawsuit against [[Glencore]], a mining company which supplies the essential cobalt to these multinational corporations with allegations of negligence that led to the deaths of children or injuries such as broken spines, emotional distress and forced labor.{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}

=== Indigenous peoples ===
There have also been instances of killings and evictions attributed to conflicts with mining companies. Almost a third of 227 murders in 2020 were of Indigenous peoples rights activists on the frontlines of [[Individual action on climate change|climate change activism]] linked to [[logging]], mining, large-scale [[agribusiness]], hydroelectric dams, and other infrastructure, according to [[Global Witness]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Marshall|first=Claire|date=2021-09-13|title=Record number of environmental activists murdered|url=https://news.yahoo.com/more-220-environment-land-rights-000300439.html|access-date=2021-09-13|website=BBC via Yahoo News|language=en-US|archive-date=2021-09-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210913042253/https://news.yahoo.com/more-220-environment-land-rights-000300439.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

The relationship between indigenous peoples and mining is defined by struggles over access to land. In Australia, the Aboriginal [[Bininj]] said mining posed a threat to their living culture and could damage sacred heritage sites.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Behrendt|first1=Larissa|last2=Strelein|first2=Lisa|date=March 2001|title=Old Habits Die Hard: Indigenous Land Rights and Mining in Australia|url=http://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/old-habits-die-hard-indigenous-land-rights-and-mining|access-date=2021-09-13|website=Cultural Survival|language=en|archive-date=2021-09-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210913042257/https://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/old-habits-die-hard-indigenous-land-rights-and-mining|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Uranium Mining – The Gundjeihmi Aboriginal Corporation|url=https://www.mirarr.net/pages/uranium-mining|access-date=2021-09-13|website=Mirarr}}</ref>

In the Philippines, an anti-mining movement has raised concerns regarding "the total disregard for [Indigenous communities'] ancestral land rights".<ref name="Tartlet-2001">{{cite web|last=Tartlet|first=R.K.|date=March 2001|title=The Cordillera People's Alliance: Mining and Indigenous Rights in the Luzon Highlands|url=http://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/cordillera-peoples-alliance-mining-and-indigenous-rights|access-date=2021-09-13|website=Cultural Survival|language=en}}</ref> [[Igorot people|Ifugao peoples]]' opposition to mining led a governor to proclaim a ban on mining operations in Mountain Province, Philippines.<ref name="Tartlet-2001" />

In Brazil, more than 170 tribes organized a march to oppose controversial attempts to strip back indigenous land rights and open their territories to mining operations.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Phillips|first1=Tom|last2=Milhorance|first2=Flávia|date=2021-09-10|title=Indigenous warrior women take fight to save ancestral lands to Brazilian capital|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/sep/10/indigenous-warrior-women-brazil-ancestral-lands-protest|access-date=2021-09-13|website=The Guardian|language=en}}</ref> The [[United Nations Commission on Human Rights]] has called on Brazil's Supreme Court to uphold Indigenous land rights to prevent exploitation by mining groups and industrial agriculture.<ref>{{cite web|date=2021-08-23|title=Brazil: Supreme Court must uphold indigenous land rights – UN expert|url=https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=27400|access-date=2021-09-13|website=UN OHCHR|archive-date=2021-09-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210913042253/https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=27400|url-status=live}}</ref>