by Ryan Simmons

Created on: January 17, 2008   Last Updated: November 03, 2010

Who should take a stand against abusive child labor being used in Congo to dig out Coltan?

The Congo has been a favorite kettle for Western civil rights activists for decades. It allows them to incessantly call it black, ignoring the fact that they happen to live in the pot. Yes, there is child labor in the Congo, the by-product of years of brutal warfare, post-colonial malaise, and commercial interests. And these children are forced into monstrously bad conditions to scrape coltan ore out of the Congo's rich soil to be refined into tantalum for consumer electronics in North America and Europe. And, yes, this child labor is the economy that supports the bully gangs and militias that pass for law enforcement in much of Central Africa.

It is a horrible situation, and one that must be remedied. But, unfortunately, the pot is just as black, and until it shakes itself clean it shouldn't be calling out the Congo. The situation in the United States and Western Europe is not widely reported, although it is laid out in the sun for anyone who has the guts to see.

Human Rights Watch has found an estimated 300,000 children in the United States who are endangered and exploited on a daily basis in large-scale agriculture, planting, weeding, and picking apples, cotton, cantaloupe, broccoli, asparagus, watermelon, chili, and other crops. United Farm Workers estimates 800,000. It is almost impossible to pin down an exact number, because so many child laborers are migrant workers, both legal and otherwise, from Central and South America, who don't say in one place long enough to ever be noticed. There are an estimated 4 million migrant workers in the United States.

Arizona is the country's third largest producer of vegetables and citrus. However, as with many states, laws governing child labor are inadequate or out of date. In agriculture, especially, there is little enforcement of the scant laws that are in place. Arizona has a significant resident farmworker population, as well as a steady flow of migrant workers coming north. The General Accounting Office cited an estimate of 100,000 fifteen-to-seventeen year olds working in agriculture in Arizona alone. Many of the fruits and vegetables found in grocery stores thousands of miles away came from their weathered, beaten hands.

These farmers are poor; generally well below the official federal poverty level. They work for below minimum wage, and often do not get paid overtime, as federal law exempts agriculture from that requirement.

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