Mobile phones financing child slavery and war in the Congo

In the depressing documentary Blood in the Mobile, director Frank Poulsen sets out to discover more about conflict minerals and to see if Nokia, his phone company of choice, has any involvement in the illegal mining industry. Not content to simply ask a few limp-wristed questions, Poulsen travels to the Congo, with the hope of seeing one of these mines for himself, despite pretty much everyone telling him he will be killed.

The tin-mines are vast, guarded by a variety of different armed groups who impose taxes on the child laborers in order to turn a profit. The children climb down into the dark, narrow mine tunnels and dig out the minerals that end up in our phones. After a long and exhausting journey, Frank Poulsen ventures deep into one of these mines and sees for himself the turmoil and the horror. Thanks to our reliance on mobile phones, and the Western World buying these conflict minerals, we have not only been supporting child slavery, but also financing a civil war that has cost the lives of more than five million people in the last fifteen years.

In a way, what is more horrifying is the bland apathy of the suits who represent Nokia, when questioned about their contribution to the horror in the Congo they simply shrug and say it’s not their fault, they’re a business and they have to make a profit. Poulsen can preach all day, it won’t make a difference, we all need our shiny new phones, and we’ve got an economic equilibrium: It’s supply and demand baby, supply and demand.

Blood in the Mobile is having special screenings at the moment and will be released in the UK on the 21st of October.