The dark side of world’s lucrative mobile industry

epa05179086 Visitors are seen at one of the lobbies at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain, on 24 February 2016. The MWC will run from 22 to 25 February 2016. EPA/Quiqe Garcia

BARCELONA: As the world’s largest mobile phone fair hosts the “crème de la crème” in Barcelona, activists slam the dark side of a sector accused of ignoring rights abuses in Chinese factories and Congolese mines. 

“Behind this modern, progressive industry lurk dark themes like labour exploitation or minerals stained with blood that come from conflict zones,“ says Alba Trepat, campaigns officer for SETEM, a federation of 10 NGOs that promotes an alternative fair with a social twist.