The lawsuit was filed Sunday in the U.S. District Court in Washington D.C. by the non-profit organization International Rights Advocates, on behalf of 13 anonymous plaintiffs from the Democratic Republic of Congo. The complaint accuses the tech giants of "knowingly benefiting from and aiding and abetting the cruel and brutal use of young children in Democratic Republic of Congo ('DRC') to mine cobalt."
The suit demands a trial by jury for the plaintiffs, who include maimed child miners and the families of others killed in the cobalt mines.
Human rights Lawyer Terry Collingsworth of International Rights Advocates told CBS News that his organization "traced the supply chain back from the mine where the children were either killed or maimed and have traced it back up to these companies."
The lawsuit calls for the companies to take responsibility for child miners in their supply chains, and change the way they source the metal.
Comment: The bigger issue is why these families and children have the need to work such jobs in the first place. It's because they need the money. As long as Congo's economy is mismanaged and exploited by its corrupt government and foreign governments and corporations willing to keep it that way as long as they share in the profits, children will continue to be used for jobs of this sort.