That’s why in December 2000, the United Nations General Assembly adopted, unanimously, a resolution on the role of diamonds in fuelling conflict, revealing the link between the illicit transaction of rough diamonds and armed conflict. It is part of the overall strategy to prevent and settle rebel clashes. The General Assembly recognized that conflict diamonds are a crucial factor in prolonging brutal wars in parts of Africa, and underscored that legitimate diamonds contribute to prosperity and development elsewhere on the continent. In Angola and Sierra Leone, conflict diamonds continue to fund the rebel groups, the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) and the Revolutionary United Front (RUF). They are acting in contravention of the international community's objectives of restoring peace in the two countries. In July, The Guardian newspaper in the United Kingdom reported that “Blood Diamonds” smuggling has made its way even into Zimbabwe.
In fact, Hollywood has played a major role in crushing the diamond smugglers. Four years ago, the swirling controversy prompted the American film industry to chronicle the brutality and horror of diamond mining. “Blood Diamonds,” starring Leonardo DiCaprio and released in 2006, made audiences aware of the vicious killings that miners faced when recovering the precious jewels. Today, the debate over the origins of the Congolese mineral--Coltan---the new gold standard, a precious stone primarily used in mobile-phones---has reached the forefront of American technology, striking at the booming gold mine of the Silicon Valley, grabbing the attention of countless companies eager to invest.
Conflict minerals, as they are now known, derive their name from the armed militias and human rights violations that fuel their excavation in the war-torn eastern provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Control of the mines in which these reserves are located – which are essential to the production of electronic devices such as cell phones and laptops – have themselves become a point of contention in that region. Those who control the mines are enabled to further sponsor violence that has thus far claimed over 5 million lives and brutalized countless more women.
The bloodshed over these raw materials has caused uproar among human rights activists, who have launched an aggressive campaign called the “Enough Project,” against such tech giants as Apple, Hewlett-Packard, and Intel to decry the use of tainted materials in their products.
The efforts of protest group have produced a Hollywood star-studded spoof on the famous “I’m a Mac/I’m a PC” commercials that suggest both computers thrive off of conflict minerals. Another protest sponsored by Enough, at the June 18th opening of a Washington, D.C. Apple store, drove the message home to employees and consumers clamoring to pick up the latest gadgets. Lisa Shannon, founder of the organization Run for Congo Women, spearheaded the protest and galvanized supporters to brandish a sign obstructing the window display, reading “Guarantee conflict-free.”
After receiving an e-mail from a concerned customer, Apple CEO Steve Jobs responded that his company strives to avoid the use of conflict minerals. Still, “there is no way for them [Apple’s suppliers] to be sure,” he added, “Until someone invents a way to chemically trace minerals from the source mine, it’s a very difficult problem.”
In addition, Hewlett-Packard has launched a campaign to ensure that the suppliers from which it purchases gold, tantalum, tin, and tungsten are cleansed of their ties to the sparring that is ravaging the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo. This was a difficult step for HP, but in line with its initial pledge made over ten years ago to ensure that its partners maintain certain environmental and humanitarian standards.
The U.S. government added to this tumult in July when, as a part of its massive Wall Street reform legislation, it required the manufacturers of electronics to state the presence of conflict minerals within their products. Companies who purchase gold, tantalum, tin, or tungsten are required to conduct audits on the mines from which those minerals originated. Companies who find that none of their materials can be traced to the violence in the Congo are permitted to label their products “conflict mineral-free.”
The aim of such a law is to divert money that funds homegrown armies and their weaponry, hopefully slowing the pace of the war. Hewlett-Packard has already come out in support of the regulation, claiming “we believe this provision will help provide much-needed transparency in companies’ supply chains, reduce the purchase and use of conflict minerals known to fund the ongoing armed conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, and thus help reduce some of the factors that have contributed to the civil war there.” Apple has not released any statement regarding the new law.
Still, critics of the new law fear that it will deprive poor Congolese people of their incomes, leaving them in bleaker circumstances than those seen even today. The stigma behind the Congolese mines could spur companies to take their business elsewhere, rather than fishing out mines devoid of conflict.
As New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof put it succinctly in a June 26th blog, “In the end, companies dealing in Congolese tin and tantalum want to keep that business — and so there will be added pressure for more peaceful mining in ways that don’t enrich militias,” Kristof added, “After all, the mining itself can be a source of income for impoverished Congolese, and it’s good if our phones have Congolese minerals — as long as the minerals aren’t buying guns for thugs.”
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