Melissa Chemam
-
 |
Conflict minerals from the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are likely to be found in everyday tech products made by Sony, Microsoft, Amazon, LG, Vodafone, and others, a new Global Witness investigation reveals.
Global Witness (GW) is an investigative, campaigning organisation that challenges the power of climate-wrecking companies, and stands with the people fighting back.
According to the author of the report, Alex Kopp, policy and advocacy advisor at Global Witness, the investigation reveals that "most of Rwanda’s major coltan exporters purchase smuggled conflict coltan from war zones in the DRC. Behind our everyday technologies lies a supply chain riddled with violence, exploitation, and human suffering."
"The Rubaya mines have become a main revenue source for M23’s brutal warfare in DRC," the report states. "Seizing vast areas of territory, the armed group backed by Rwanda’s military has killed thousands and displaced hundreds of thousands of civilians, abducting and torturing with impunity."
"It's been a continuation of the report from a year ago, which was really the start of this investigation and where we've found evidence that one exporter has sourced coltan, connected to the conflict in DRC and exported from Rwanda," Kopp told me.
"We've been able to connect that exported coltan to the DRC, and it is connected to the conflict in the East," he added.
He adds that a huge volume of coltan is being smuggled from the DRC to Rwanda, and that it seems clear that other exporters use coltan connected to the conflict.
And at least five of these seven companies buy conflict coltan from DRC, selling it on through middlemen to smelters in China and Kazakhstan.
"Through this continued research, we could find further evidence and show that five of the seven largest exporters from Rwanda during the period we look at, um, have sourced conflict, coltan from DRC."
A previous GW investigation already revealed that coltan linked to conflict in the eastern DRC likely entered the European Union market through international commodities trader Traxys, over a year ago.
> Read more about it here: DRC conflict coltan entering EU via Rwandan smuggling routes, report finds
Smuggled mineral in major supply chains
The report demonstrates that global brands such as Sony, Microsoft, Amazon, LG Display, Ericsson, Toyota, Nvidia, and Vodafone are sourcing coltan from supply chains contaminated by smuggled mineral exports.
This implies that industry standards and programmes designed to ensure responsible mineral sourcing, such as ITSCI and the Responsible Minerals Initiative, have largely failed to detect conflict coltan.
It took the British non-governmental organisation over a year of investigation through extensive documentary and field research to be able to prove the exploitation system.
The research involved the analysis of trade data and interviews with more than 70 stakeholders from local communities, actors in the private sector and civil society, and academic research.
This includes interviews with coltan traffickers, showing how these Rwandan exporters are buying conflict coltan from the DRC and reselling it to smelters in China or Kazakhstan through intermediaries.
The NGO then cross-referenced its findings with surveys conducted by the United Nations (UN) and other non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
The looted minerals originate from Rubaya in the DRC’s North Kivu province, where 15 percent of the world’s coltan is mined and produced.
These mines have been occupied for two years by the M23, the military group supported by Rwanda, which derives its main source of income from them to fuel the fighting.
The Rwandan-backed armed group has been illegally controlling the mines since 2024. It has committed serious human rights abuses, including sexual violence and killings, as well as the recruitment of children for forced labor.
The investigation also establishes the complicity of Rwandan officials at a time when smuggling has reached unprecedented levels.
Rwanda is still refusing to comment.
> Listen also to my podcast episode, Spotlight on Africa: the race for Africa's critical minerals
Failed due Diligence
The investigation also highlights the failure of the due diligence systems in place to insure the clean trade of natural resources.
The traceability system known as ITSCI, used by many international companies via the Responsible Minerals Initiative (RMI), to prevent conflict minerals from entering their supply chains, is actually being used to "launder a large portion of smuggled coltan."
The companies that produce phones, computers, and cars have failed or refused to clean up their supply chains. This "only fuels instability and prolongs the suffering of communities,' GW's report states.
"We've contacted authorities from the government of Rwanda, but we haven't received any reply," Kopp told RFI English. "And officially, Kigali is still denying that smuggled minerals are getting to Rwanda".
Some of the companies accused of smuggling conflict coltan, like Sony and Toyota, told Global Witness that their goal is now to source conflict-free minerals and referred to the due diligence checks it conducts on its suppliers.
Nvidia, Amazon, Microsoft, Vodafone, and LG Display have not replied to Global Witness so far.
"We recommend that companies stop buying coltan from Rwanda until M23 has withdrawn troops from the ruby mines, unless companies really have very thoroughly scrutinised coltan before exporting, or by directly checking the origin and grading of the coltan," Kopp insists.
"And I think, at least as important, is also the action that the international community takes," he concludes. "Governments should make any official development assistance conditional on Rwanda stopping its support to M23 and sanction commanders of M23, senior Rwandan officials who were responsible for abuses, as well as companies profiteering from conflict resources."
No comments:
Post a Comment