Three children taken to work at a gold mine in Mali; one dies at 13

Three children aged 13 and 14 were allegedly recruited in Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso, and taken to Mali to work at an artisanal gold-mining site. On October 5, their families learned that a 13-year-old boy had died; he reportedly became ill after about two weeks at the site and was allegedly assaulted after asking to return home. Burkinabè police arrested a 19-year-old gold miner, identified as S.S., on October 11 as he returned to Bobo-Dioulasso with the two surviving children. The exact medical circumstances of the boy’s death remain unclear.