国家地理:非洲采矿童工状况堪忧
Every week, more children arrive to work in the hundreds of primitive mines in the bush. Here they endure long hours at dangerous jobs, wringing flecks of gold from the dirt with mercury.
One of them is a 12-year-old boy named Saliou. Momodou is just 13 years old. This is a region of Africa where boys of Saliou's age are expected to earn money for their families. He works in a bush mine on the Senegal-Mali border in the village of Tenkoto. Senegal prohibits anyone under 18 from doing hazardous work. And mining is among the most hazardous of jobs. According to the UN, mining is one of the worst forms of child labor. However, the laws are seldom enforced.
Children travel from mine to mine, moving with the gold. The AP reports that 6 months after Saliou arrived in Tenkoto, it was decided that the mine was nearly depleted. So he and the boys walked for more than a week, crossed the Senegal border and arrived at another mine in Mali. It's the same story here as at the mine in Tenkoto. Teenage boys clamber down mine shafts 30 to 50 meters deep. Younger teens then yank the rocks up with a pulley. Squatting next to a plastic tub, boys of school age pour mercury onto their bare hands. Mercury attracts gold like a magnet.
The World Health Organization says that mercury is a potent nerve toxin and can affect the brain. It's especially dangerous for children since their nervous systems are still developing. Typical symptoms of mercury poisoning include mental retardation, loss of balance, tremors, blindness and loss of hearing.
“In addition to the actual work that they do is that they carry very heavy loads, they are exposed to chemicals like mercury which cause extreme danger to the, which pose an extreme danger to the nervous system, kidneys, the respiratory system, reproductive system.”
Once the tiny flecks of gold have been extracted, the buyers step in offering roughly $19 per gram. Once the deals are done, the gold is taken to the capital of Mali. Here the price for gold from Tenkoto is almost $23 a gram, nearly $4 more than the buyers pay the miners.
United Nations mining experts estimate that 10-20% of the thousands of mine workers in West Africa are children.
“Frankly, it's a, it's a very serious problem. We estimate about one million children worldwide are involved in small-scale mining.”
Precisely which products contain child-mined gold, no one can say for sure. Unlike a diamond, gold does not keep its identity on its tortuous journey from mine to market. The AP reports one prominent retailer, Tiffany & Company, has expressed concern about child labor and frustration that it can't certify its products are free of gold mined by youngsters. Because bush mines, where child labor is ubiquitous, supply a fifth of the world's gold according to the UN, the company realizes its supply lines may well be compromised. Tiffany & Company is part of the Council for Responsible Jewellery Practices which was formed to seek ways to help reduce the market for gold mined by children. But the council has found no effective way to enforce compliance.
For Saliou, the work in the mines goes on. He says he dreams that one day he'll own something made of gold.
每周，越来越多的儿童来到丛林里的数百个原始矿山工作。他们每天在这种危险的环境下工作很长时间，从带有水银的泥沙中淘出金沙。
其中一个是叫Saliou的12岁男孩。Momodou也只有13岁。在非洲的这个地区，像Saliou这么大的男孩都要被送出去为家庭赚钱。他们在塞纳加尔和马里边境上一个叫Tenkoto的小村庄的丛林矿山里工作。马里禁止18岁以下的未成年人从事危险工作，而开矿是最危险的工作之一。联合国称，矿工是最糟糕的童工现象。然而，这项法律却基本上得不到执行。
孩子们随着金子移动，从一个矿山转到另一个矿山。AP报告称，Saliou来到Tenkoto之后6个月，这座矿山就基本上被挖空了。所以，他和其他孩子一起走了一个多星期，穿过塞纳加尔边境，到了马里北部的矿山。这里的情况和Tenkoto一样。孩子们沿着杆子爬到深30到50米的矿井里。年龄稍小一点的用滑轮将岩石一筐一筐的拉出来。这些学龄儿童蹲在塑料管旁边，将水银倒在裸露的手臂上。水银像磁石一样吸引这金子。
世界卫生组织说，水银是强有力的神经毒药，严重者可以影响大脑。为儿童的危险性更大，因为他们的神经系统还在发育。水银中毒的典型症状包括精神迟缓，平衡失调，颤抖，失明，失聪。
“他们除了每天进行高负荷的劳动之外，还暴露在极度危险的化学物质下，这会对他们的神经系统，肾，呼吸系统和再生系统造成很大的危险。”
微小的金粒被提取出来之后，买主以大约19美元每克的价格来收购。交易成功之后，这些金子被带到马里首都。在这里，来自Tenkoto的金价大约23美元每克，比买主支付给矿工的高出4美元。
联合国采矿专家估计，西非的数千名矿工中有10-20%是儿童。
“坦白的说，这是非常严重的问题。我们估计，实际上这种小规模的矿井中有大约100万名童工。”
如果要确切的讲，那些产品中包含童工采集的金子，没人可以给出确定答案。和转世不同，金子在从矿山到市场的过程中特性会发生变化。AP报告说，一个显著的零售商，Tiffany & Company为童工问题感到很担忧，同时表示很沮丧，因为不知道自己出售的金子是不是由童工生产的。由于童工普遍存在的丛林矿山占世界金子供应的五分之一，该公司意识到供应链可能也作出了让步。Tiffany & Company是负责人的珠宝行为委员会的成员之一，该组织致力于减少童工采集的金子的市场。但是该委员会至今没有发现有效的方法。
对Saliou来说，矿山的工作还要继续。他说，他的梦想是，有一天自己也能拥有金子做的东西。
One of them is a 12-year-old boy named Saliou. Momodou is just 13 years old. This is a region of Africa where boys of Saliou's age are expected to earn money for their families. He works in a bush mine on the Senegal-Mali border in the village of Tenkoto. Senegal prohibits anyone under 18 from doing hazardous work. And mining is among the most hazardous of jobs. According to the UN, mining is one of the worst forms of child labor. However, the laws are seldom enforced.
Children travel from mine to mine, moving with the gold. The AP reports that 6 months after Saliou arrived in Tenkoto, it was decided that the mine was nearly depleted. So he and the boys walked for more than a week, crossed the Senegal border and arrived at another mine in Mali. It's the same story here as at the mine in Tenkoto. Teenage boys clamber down mine shafts 30 to 50 meters deep. Younger teens then yank the rocks up with a pulley. Squatting next to a plastic tub, boys of school age pour mercury onto their bare hands. Mercury attracts gold like a magnet.
The World Health Organization says that mercury is a potent nerve toxin and can affect the brain. It's especially dangerous for children since their nervous systems are still developing. Typical symptoms of mercury poisoning include mental retardation, loss of balance, tremors, blindness and loss of hearing.
“In addition to the actual work that they do is that they carry very heavy loads, they are exposed to chemicals like mercury which cause extreme danger to the, which pose an extreme danger to the nervous system, kidneys, the respiratory system, reproductive system.”
Once the tiny flecks of gold have been extracted, the buyers step in offering roughly $19 per gram. Once the deals are done, the gold is taken to the capital of Mali. Here the price for gold from Tenkoto is almost $23 a gram, nearly $4 more than the buyers pay the miners.
United Nations mining experts estimate that 10-20% of the thousands of mine workers in West Africa are children.
“Frankly, it's a, it's a very serious problem. We estimate about one million children worldwide are involved in small-scale mining.”
Precisely which products contain child-mined gold, no one can say for sure. Unlike a diamond, gold does not keep its identity on its tortuous journey from mine to market. The AP reports one prominent retailer, Tiffany & Company, has expressed concern about child labor and frustration that it can't certify its products are free of gold mined by youngsters. Because bush mines, where child labor is ubiquitous, supply a fifth of the world's gold according to the UN, the company realizes its supply lines may well be compromised. Tiffany & Company is part of the Council for Responsible Jewellery Practices which was formed to seek ways to help reduce the market for gold mined by children. But the council has found no effective way to enforce compliance.
For Saliou, the work in the mines goes on. He says he dreams that one day he'll own something made of gold.
每周，越来越多的儿童来到丛林里的数百个原始矿山工作。他们每天在这种危险的环境下工作很长时间，从带有水银的泥沙中淘出金沙。
其中一个是叫Saliou的12岁男孩。Momodou也只有13岁。在非洲的这个地区，像Saliou这么大的男孩都要被送出去为家庭赚钱。他们在塞纳加尔和马里边境上一个叫Tenkoto的小村庄的丛林矿山里工作。马里禁止18岁以下的未成年人从事危险工作，而开矿是最危险的工作之一。联合国称，矿工是最糟糕的童工现象。然而，这项法律却基本上得不到执行。
孩子们随着金子移动，从一个矿山转到另一个矿山。AP报告称，Saliou来到Tenkoto之后6个月，这座矿山就基本上被挖空了。所以，他和其他孩子一起走了一个多星期，穿过塞纳加尔边境，到了马里北部的矿山。这里的情况和Tenkoto一样。孩子们沿着杆子爬到深30到50米的矿井里。年龄稍小一点的用滑轮将岩石一筐一筐的拉出来。这些学龄儿童蹲在塑料管旁边，将水银倒在裸露的手臂上。水银像磁石一样吸引这金子。
世界卫生组织说，水银是强有力的神经毒药，严重者可以影响大脑。为儿童的危险性更大，因为他们的神经系统还在发育。水银中毒的典型症状包括精神迟缓，平衡失调，颤抖，失明，失聪。
“他们除了每天进行高负荷的劳动之外，还暴露在极度危险的化学物质下，这会对他们的神经系统，肾，呼吸系统和再生系统造成很大的危险。”
微小的金粒被提取出来之后，买主以大约19美元每克的价格来收购。交易成功之后，这些金子被带到马里首都。在这里，来自Tenkoto的金价大约23美元每克，比买主支付给矿工的高出4美元。
联合国采矿专家估计，西非的数千名矿工中有10-20%是儿童。
“坦白的说，这是非常严重的问题。我们估计，实际上这种小规模的矿井中有大约100万名童工。”
如果要确切的讲，那些产品中包含童工采集的金子，没人可以给出确定答案。和转世不同，金子在从矿山到市场的过程中特性会发生变化。AP报告说，一个显著的零售商，Tiffany & Company为童工问题感到很担忧，同时表示很沮丧，因为不知道自己出售的金子是不是由童工生产的。由于童工普遍存在的丛林矿山占世界金子供应的五分之一，该公司意识到供应链可能也作出了让步。Tiffany & Company是负责人的珠宝行为委员会的成员之一，该组织致力于减少童工采集的金子的市场。但是该委员会至今没有发现有效的方法。
对Saliou来说，矿山的工作还要继续。他说，他的梦想是，有一天自己也能拥有金子做的东西。
