Personal Technology Fuels Violence in the Congo
Lauren VanMullem | Jul 27, 2010 | Comments 3
Your computer, cell phone, iPod, and digital camera all share a dirty secret: each one of these personal technology devices use tantalum, tungsten, tin and gold mined in the Congo. According to a spoof on YouTube, you’re funding the deadliest conflict since World War II.
The sketch — which accuses both MAC and PC of using the “3 Ts…and gold. Gotta have gold.” — refers to what have come to be known as “conflict minerals.” These minerals are mined under slave-labor conditions and smuggled to and traded in Asia by armed groups in return for money that is then used to buy more weapons. These groups make millions of dollars each year, but are better known for controlling their territories and natural resources through violence and terror.
These minerals are bought in large quantities by the manufacturers of electronic devices found in our homes, purses and pockets. The link between our spending and their suffering is clear.
The issue on our end is a familiar one – we need transparency in the producer-consumer chain. Last year two legislative acts were proposed to regulate the trade of conflict minerals: H.R. 4128, The Conflict Minerals Act, and S.891, The Congo Conflict Minerals Act. Both have been sitting in committees for months with no movement, but if passed would require that U.S. Commerce Department-sanctioned auditors go to mines to declare whether they are conflict-free. Then, importers would have to certify whether they were importing conflict minerals, and electronic companies would declare whether their products are conflict-free (like the Kimberley Process for blood diamonds).
Steve Jobs actually responded to a concerned consumer’s question on what Apple’s position regarding conflict minerals. His response, though brief, highlights how difficult it would be to solve the problem, even with all the legislation the U.S. might care to throw down:
Yes. We require all of our suppliers to certify in writing that they use conflict few materials. But honestly there is no way for them to be sure. Until someone invents a way to chemically trace minerals from the source mine, it’s a very difficult problem.
Sent from my iPhone
Even if we all band together and declare that we will not buy products made with conflict minerals, how are we — or even well-meaning manufacturers — to know that the minerals being sent are conflict-free? There are no easy answers. Considering the corruption rampant through much of Africa, facility auditors could be bought off or just plain lied to.
For now (unless any readers have a better idea), it has to be enough to make our electronics companies aware that this is important to us.
To do that much is simple. Use this online form to tell the major electronics companies that if they take conflict out of their products, you’ll buy them.
Filed Under: Awareness
About the Author: Lauren Van Mullem never has enough hours in the day for everything she wants to do, see, eat, drink, and write about. During the piddling hours of daylight available, she writes about food, travel, and good deeds. She also blogs at www.anglophileinla.com.
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What’s sad is that many of the basic minerals we’ve come to take for granted are actually part of an active, ongoing oppression of peoples.
For example, when was the last time you examined the ingredient listing of your eye shadow? Does it contain mica? Chances are, it probably does. Mica has been referred to as the “diamond of the make-up world,” not only because it adds sparkle to products (if it shimmers, assume it contains mica) but because of the human rights violations and exploitations that go with mining it out of India and Africa.
That isn’t to say the cosmetics issue is more important than that you address here, but rather it’s sad when we think about how we’ve become so totally reliant on the same things that will kill us or ensure we kill others.
What’s really sad Ashley is that we’ve become so dependent on this stuff (this marvelous stuff!) that all the “awareness” in the world probably won’t make a dent in our use of these products. Does that sound dire? Just think of all the rabid Apple fans – you couldn’t pry those iPods, iPhones or Macs from their cold dead fingers, much less live gripping fingers. However, I think that with awareness, more tech companies might try offering conflict-free products (or at least give it lip-service) and then I believe the consumers would choose conflict-free over the alternatives.