On 26 April 2024, the United Nations Secretary-General launched the Panel on Critical Energy Transition Minerals. The historic Panel brought together governments, intergovernmental and international organisations, industry and civil society, to develop a set of common and voluntary principles to build trust, guide the transition and accelerate the race to renewables. The main reason for setting the panel was to insulate communities from the negative impacts of Critical Energy Transition mining activities on livelihoods, the environment, health, human security and human rights as the world jostles for renewable energy.
February 5, 2025, marked the dawn of a progressive era in Zimbabwe’s critical mineral extraction sector with the launch of the China-Africa Dialogue on Green Minerals for Responsible Investment (CADRI) platform by the Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association (ZELA) and Global Witness (GW). The reason behind the establishment of CADRI was to respond to the significant and growing Chinese investments in transitional minerals, such as lithium, copper, cobalt, manganese, and other rare earth minerals, in Africa.
Both the UN Secretary General’s Panel on Critical Energy Transition and CADRI resonate well with the spirit and tenor of the United Nations’ Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), which provide a framework for Member States to prevent and address human rights violations related to business activities in their areas of jurisdiction through three important pillars which are Protecting, Respecting, and offering proper Remedies for human rights abuses by business entities.
It is an undisputed fact that China has become Africa’s largest investor in the mining sector and is a significant player in the mining, refining and processing of green minerals. It is estimated that Chinese mining companies control almost 90% of Zimbabwe’s mining sector. In recent years, Chinese mining and battery manufacturing companies have made massive investments to the tune of USD 4.5 billion in lithium mines in countries such as Namibia, Zimbabwe, and Mali
Although investments in critical mineral extraction in Zimbabwe are important for economic growth, lithium extraction came as a double-edged sword for children’s rights in Zimbabwe. This article analyses how the decarbonisation agenda is negatively impacting children’s rights in Zimbabwe.
Child labour
Although large lithium mining companies do not directly employ children due to rules and regulations, their demand for critical minerals is incentivising child labour in artisanal and small-scale mining supply chains. Globally, it is estimated that over 160 million children are engaged in Child Labour. Zimbabwe is a state party to the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (The Children’s Charter). Article 15 of the Children’s Charter gives Zimbabwe both a legal and moral obligation to protect children from all forms of economic exploitation and performing work that is likely to be hazardous or interfering with the child’s physical, mental, spiritual, and moral development. In 2024, the Findings on Worst Forms of Child Labour Report for the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Bolivia revealed numerous cases of child labour mining critical minerals such as cobalt, copper, lithium, manganese, tantalum, tin, tungsten, and zinc. The Zimbabwe Environmental Lawyers Association Report revealed that thousands of children in Zimbabwe are driven into artisanal mining.
The lithium rush in Zimbabwe has lured thousands of small-scale miners and artisanal miners, including children who were driven by poverty to join dangerous mining expeditions. This has been reduced by the government’s ban on the exportation of raw lithium. Zimbabwe’s Sandawana Lithium Mine, located in Mberengwa District in the Midlands Province mine of has been reported to attract thousands of artisanal diggers working in unsafe conditions, with reports of child labour and miners being buried by a mine collapse. The majority of children exposed to artisanal lithium are exposed to unhealthy mineral activities such as unsafe digging conditions, dust, mine collapses and dangerous chemicals used in processing. These children work without protective gear, and they are vulnerable to many types of injuries and health complications.
Right to education
Right to education (Article 11 of the African Children’s Charter) is one of the longest provisions and a heavily worded article with a lot of emphasis for Member States such as Zimbabwe to jealously guard the right to education for an African continent fit for children. Section 75 of the Zimbabwean Constitution provides that every citizen and permanent resident has a right to basic state-funded education. However, the exigencies created by critical mining activities reflect otherwise. Students living in the vicinity of the Sabi Star Lithium mining company in Masvingo Province of Zimbabwe dropped out of school and joined mining activities due to poverty. In Manicaland Province, 40 families were displaced to pave the way for the Lithium mining by a Chinese mining company. The majority of discussions around these relocations focused on compensation for their homes. But in all these discussions, there is no emphasis on children’s fundamental rights, the right to education or the future of those families with school-going children. Other families were relocated to areas where children have to walk more than 5 kilometres to school. Such a situation is a flagrant violation of children’s right to education, which is guaranteed by Zimbabwe’s domestic statutes and international human rights instruments.
In 2023, the Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ) reported that lithium mining activities in Mberengwa were taking few meters away from Sandawana Primary School, which exposed students and teachers to dust and noise pollution, a situation which led to some learners and teachers withdrawing from the school. The same is being experienced in Bikita District, where schools around the place constantly experience noise and air pollution from mines. Such an impact of mining activity, which directly makes schools unsafe and forces children to abandon education, shows prioritisation of profit over children’s fundamental rights.
Best Interest of the Child Principle
The best interest of the child principle is a fundamental tenet of the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of the Child, the African Children’s Charter and the Constitution of Zimbabwe and other domestic statutes and regulations. This principle provides that all actions concerning children should prioritise their well-being and development. However, several reports on lithium extraction in Zimbabwe clash with this sacrosanct principle. Child labour, school dropouts, children’s health and safety, and disruption of education due to displacements and environmental degradation are violated by mining lithium companies. Lack of transparency in Zimbabwe’s mineral supply chains makes it difficult to ensure that lithium is sourced ethically and in a manner which protects children's rights.
Obligation of state parties
Zimbabwe is a state party to the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, commonly known as the African Children’s Charter. Article 1 of the African Children’s Charter obligates Zimbabwe to recognise the rights, freedoms and duties enshrined in the Charter and adopt legislative and other measures to give effect to the spirit of the Charter. The Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) provide that states must protect against human rights abuses within their territories. This provides that appropriate steps should be taken to prevent, investigate and punish child rights violations emanating from any mining activity in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe is obliged to deal with any type of violations by mining companies to insulate children’s rights from being violated by the growing lithium extraction within its borders.
Conclusion
Drawing inspiration from the China-Africa Dialogue on Green Minerals for Responsible Investment and the United Nations Secretary-General’s “Resourcing the Energy Transition” framework, Zimbabwe should invest in the mainstreaming of children's rights protection and programming within critical mineral value chains. Responsible and sustainable critical mineral governance in Zimbabwe cannot be achieved without frankly confronting systemic children’s rights violations caused by the lithium extraction. Entrenching children’s rights in the mineral governance architecture is not just a legal obligation but a moral duty towards the creation of the extractive industry underpinned by creating a just, equitable, and child rights-sensitive energy transition, which is sensitive to children's rights.
About the Author: Zororai Nkomo is a human rights specialist, Legal Researcher with the African Union’s Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. He holds a Bachelor of Laws Degree LLB (Cum Laude) from the University of South Africa (UNISA) and a Master of Laws LLM Specialising in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa (HRDA) from the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria.