Government Fails to Throw Punch Against Congo's Conflict Minerals

The UK High Court has denied permission for a Judicial Review of the UK government's decision not to refer certain British companies for targeted sanctions by the United Nations. The move provides good insight for those working to stop the use of conflict minerals in the raw material supply chains.

According to UK-based non-governmental organization Global Witness, a number of UK companies are known to have been trading in minerals source from the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The most common conflict minerals are tantalum, tin, tungsten and gold.

Britain is a permanent member of the UN Security Council and major financial donor to the DR Congo. With that said, one would think that they would be prepared to investigate and refer companies to break their links to conflict minerals.

Top Conflict Minerals Videos

Videos bringing awareness to ending the use of conflict minerals:

United Nations Completes Report on Human Rights Violations in Congo; Cites Link Between Violence and Conflict Minerals

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights recently released a report documenting some of the most serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law committed within the Democratic Republic of the Congo between March 1993 and June 2003.

The report also assessed the capacities existing with the Congo's justice system to deal appropriately with the human rights violations which may be uncovered.

Click here to view the complete report

Dealing with current violations alone have proved difficult in the country. For example, a probe into the murder of high-profile human rights campaigner Floribert Chebeya revealed a role directly by local police in the murder.

According to UK-based NGO Global Witness, the report also "robustly demonstrates the need to sever the link between the mineral trade and violence, and for individuals and companies to be held to account."

To begin to address the issue, Global Witness is calling for a verifiable system of due diligence within the mineral supply chain. The key elements of such a system would be:

1. Policy on Conflict Minerals
2. Assessment of Supply Chain Risks
3. Remedial Action
4. Audit (verifiable)
5. Public Reporting