Tech firms trying to avoid using “conflict minerals” will need to work harder to keep them out of smartphones and tablets.
Companies are overlooking the risk that mining in countries other than the Democratic Republic of the Congo is linked to abuses and armed groups seeking to fund violence, claims a new report.
While existing laws on conflict minerals have focused on DRC and surrounding territories, where they have fuelled decades of war, new European rules coming into force this week take into account the “extreme risk” that tin, tungsten, tantalum and gold mined in countries like Colombia, Peru and Myanmar is equally tainted.
According to risk analytics group Verisk Maplecroft, tech companies could fall foul of the law.
The minerals – key components in everyday items including phones, televisions and tablets – are also linked to government corruption, deforestation and the use of child labour, the data shows.
“If companies are focusing most of their efforts on the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the surrounding region, they risk overlooking key environmental and social risks in other countries,” said Stefan Sabo-Walsh, Maplecroft’s director of commodities research.
“There’s generally a surprise that, despite the focus being on DRC, there are armed groups involved in the production of these minerals in places like Myanmar and Colombia, or that there human rights and environmental issues where companies might believe there is less of a footprint.”
The findings come in the week that the EU passed new regulations on the sale and trade of conflict minerals. The rules will soon start to impact European importers and will focus on all “conflict-affected and high-risk areas” throughout the globe.
The UK’s joint human rights committee last week called for the prosecution of firms linked to supply chain abuse. In its second inquiry on business and human rights, the JHRC said that Britain needs to do more to ensure workers are protected: “The government must toughen up the law with a new legal duty on businesses to respect human rights when they are operating abroad.”
Joseph Bardwell of the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre added: “Better companies are now undertaking robust due diligence, but too many companies appear to operate with one eye open to price and profits, and the other closed to suffering in their supply chains.”
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