Welcome To Sodom
a movie together with Amnesty International, 6 p.m., H16 (University) + information booth during the whole week
Is it only possible to rescue the environment at the cost of human rights? – Underdogs of the digital revolution
A clean electronic car instead of a dirty fuel-guzzling one. Laptops and tablets instead of killing forests for the lecture script. Not to forget, our smartphones as a daily companion, ready to organize the next demonstration. All this is just possible because of lithium-ion-rechargeable battery. Cobalt is the main component of these batteries and, in most cases, gained under life-threatening conditions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Due to this, child labour is part of the industry. Of course, there are international standards for companies to secure human rights, especially concerning employment protection, but sadly only a few companies take measures to fight these serious human rights violations in the cobalt market.
And to be honest, our western civilisation mentality doesn’t make things any better. Always wanting the newest device is like an addiction, and all old electronic devices have to go on a journey full of illegal routes to be exported to developing countries or emerging markets.
This documentary shows different cruel fates of people working at Europe’s biggest waste dump to export electronic scrap to Ghana. These people suffer under the digital revolution, being a part of the very end of the value-added chain, feeling human rights violations every day.
That is a huge issue, and we are the origin of this catastrophe… So bring your old phone to the Amnesty International information booth where they are going to collect all phones and donate them to NABU, who then organize the most sustainable way to recycle them as possible.