The tech giant has been accused of sourcing conflict minerals from sub-Saharan Africa.
Lawyers representing the Central African country, claimed in a statement this week that Apple’s subsidiaries in Europe are using conflict minerals sourced in sub-Saharan Africa and accused the company of “using deceptive commercial practices to assure consumers that the tech giant’s supply chains are clean
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has filed criminal complaints against tech giant Apple’s subsidiaries in France and Belgium over the use of “conflict minerals” in their supply chains
What are conflict minerals?
They are minerals which are typically sourced from high-risk areas afflicted by conflict.
The war-ravaged DRC, Sierra Leone and Venezuela are among those countries in which such minerals are found.
“Conflict minerals is a term given by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to tantalum, tin, tungsten and gold sourced from so-called conflict-affected and high-risk areas,” Christoph N Vogel, author of the book Conflict Minerals Inc, told Al Jazeera.
In a report published in October this year, the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) noted that various industries around the world mainly use four conflict minerals – tantalum, tin, tungsten and gold.
Tantalum is mostly used to manufacture capacitors which store electrical energy in cell phones, computers and also turbines in jet engines
Gold is used as jewellery and also in electronics like laptops and cell phones.
Many human rights organisations have also noted that conditions for workers in the mines are often very poor, and can involve slavery and unpaid work
Which conflict minerals are mined in the DRC?
According to the US GAO report, the eastern part of the DRC is one of the key areas in the world rich in the four listed minerals – tin, tungsten, tantalum and gold – collectively called the 3TGs.
This part of the DRC has been ravaged by violence for more than 30 years. At least 200 armed groups there have been vying for control of the mines from which these minerals are sourced.
Alex Kopp, senior campaigner at the Global Witness NGO’s transition minerals team, told Al Jazeera that in the DRC, “they [rebels] occupy mines and also the trading routes. They basically force the workers in the mines to work for free for a day or a week and they illegally smuggle the minerals through places like Rwanda. The minerals then get exported legally to big companies like Apple