As reported in the news media, five of the world’s largest tech companies have been named in a lawsuit filed on 15th December 2019 by human rights firm International Rights Advocates on behalf of 14 parents and children from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

It is claimed that the companies knew of death and serious injury of children reportedly working in cobalt mines in their supply chains [Case 1:19-cv-03737, filed on 15th December 2019 in Washington DC]. Paragraph 16 of the complaint quotes from Apple’s ‘2018 Statement on Efforts to Combat Human Trafficking and Slavery in Our Business and Supply Chain’, which, in part, mentions ITSCI’s whistleblowing mechanism in the DRC. ITSCI is not engaged in any activity relating to cobalt mines, or the cobalt supply chain, to which this lawsuit solely relates.