out of sight and out of mind #2
アップル，サムスン，ソニーなどの大手IT企業の製品に使われる原料に関する記事です。IT製品の材料として用いられるコバルトが，児童を働かせて採取していたことが明らかになりました。コバルトは炭坑で採取されますが，危険で厳しい労働環境です。交渉力が弱いサプライヤーに対して買い叩きをしていると，そのしわ寄せを受けることになる現状が改めて明らかになりました。
記事の中で気になった表現は"out of sight and out of mind"です。『Wisdom英和辞典第三版』（三省堂）によると「〘ことわざ〙去る者は日々に疎し，＜事･物･人が＞《…にとって》目にしないので[なくなれば]忘れてしまう」などという意味がありました。Oxford Dictionaries.comには"proverb You soon forget people or things that are no longer visible or present"と定義されております。ことわざのようですね。（Ume）
Apple, Samsung and Sony face child labour claims
One company admitted the connection while four others were unable to say for certain the source of the cobalt they used. Five denied sourcing the mineral from the firm, despite being listed as customers in company documents and two others said that they did not source cobalt from DRC.
Six firms said that they were investigating the claims.
"It is a major paradox of the digital era that some of the world's richest, most innovative companies are able to market incredibly sophisticated devices without being required to show where they source raw materials for their components," said executive director of Afrewatch (Africa Resources Watch) Emmanuel Umpula.
"The abuses in mines remain out of sight and out of mind because in today's global marketplace, consumers have no idea about the conditions at the mine, factory and assembly line. We found that traders are buying cobalt without asking questions about how and where it was mined."
