The government of DR Congo blames the American company Apple how it uses “illegally mined” raw materials for the production of the technology products it has on the world market, coming from “Congo mines”, in which “many human rights are violated”, reveal documents that came to the knowledge of Agence France-Presse today.
According to lawyers acting on behalf of the DR Congo state, these minerals are “transported outside” the territory, specifically “to Rwanda”, where “they are washed off» and join the global supply chain.
The “file” they have drawn up “demonstrates” that “the Apple company uses in its products strategic minerals purchased in Rwanda”, say the lawyers who undertook to prepare an extrajudicial letter to the company calling for it to “stop” this practice, before the start judicial process.
“THE Rwanda is a central player in the illegal exploitation of minerals and in particular the exploitation of zinc and tantalum in the DR Congo,” according to the lawyers. “After being illegally mined, these minerals are smuggled into Rwanda, where they enter global supply chains,” they continue.
These minerals come “for the most part from Congolese mines where they are violated in large numbers Human Rights“, they insist.
A warning was sent this week to two Apple subsidiaries in France by French lawyers William Bourdon and Vincent Brengar. A letter was also mailed to the US parent company, the tech giant that makes iPhones and Mac computers in particular.
Her underground DR Congo it is extremely rich in minerals. The country ranks first in the world in cobalt production and first in Africa in copper production.
According to a report by the NGO Enough Project released in 2015, the disputed mines “are often controlled by armed groups, who force, through violence or terror, civilians to work in them and transport them.”
“Children are also forced to work in these mines,” he added.
The government in Kinshasa accuses Rwanda of trying to bring under its control the resources, mainly minerals, of the eastern part of DR Congo: this is, in its view, one of the reasons why Kigali supports the M23 rebels, who took up arms again and has been on the offensive for over two years in North Kivu province.
The M23 movement currently controls large parts of North Kivu province and now surrounds its capital, Goma.
The warning to Apple is explained, according to the lawyers, by the “extreme gravity of the situation in eastern DR Congo, which is causing very great damage to the local population and the Congolese state”.
“Blood Minerals”
“The responsibility of Apple” and besides “many other major manufacturers of technology products, when they use blood-stained minerals” has been overlooked “for a long time”, lawyers William Bourdon (Paris) and Robert Amsterdam (London) emphasized today to AFP.
The lawyers described Apple’s “various commitments and safeguards” as “notoriously inadequate”, “either on its own initiative or under the legislation for the use of minerals purchased in Rwanda”.
DR Congo means to make the rare earth mining sector more “ethical”, mainly because metals are extracted “at the cost of committing the most serious crimes”, and often with “those who commit them” benefiting, they argue.
“Apple appears to rely primarily on the vigilance of its suppliers and their commitment to respect its rules of conduct, as well as external controls on the activity of its suppliers.” In turn, “both the suppliers and the companies conducting the audits rely on the ITSCI program, the many and serious malfunctions of which are proven.”
The program, the Zinc Supply Chain Initiativeor ITSCI, is among the main mechanisms set up ten years ago to ensure the supply of minerals that do not come from “war zones” but are instead “responsibly” mined in DR Congo, according to British NGO Global Witness.
But in April 2022, the NGO alleged that the program ultimately contributed to DR Congo’s laundering of minerals linked to armed conflict, child labor and smuggling.
For the supply of zinc, tantalum and tungsten (often referred to together with the term “3T”, from the initials of their names in English—tin, tantalum, tungsten), multinationals such as Apple, Intel, Samsung, Nokia, Motorola, Tesla et al., are based on this “problematic” mechanism, the NGO had stressed, revealing that “in a certain mining area” in eastern DR Congo, “90% of the minerals that entered the program in the first half of 2021 did not come from from certified mines”.
The DRC government’s warning letter to Apple comes with a list of questions about “the 3T minerals used in its products.” The lawyers are demanding a response “within three weeks” and warn that “all legal options” remain open.
When contacted by AFP, Apple referred to its 2023 annual report on minerals from war zones. In it, it is stated that there is “no basis” to estimate that minerals that were related, directly or indirectly, “to armed groups in the DR Congo or a neighboring country” entered its supply chain until December 31, 2023.
Source: RES-MPE
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