3 weeks ago
Congo’s government is questioning Apple astir nan tech company’s knowledge of "blood minerals" from a conflict area successful nan African state that could beryllium smuggled into its proviso chains and is demanding answers wrong 3 weeks.
A group of world lawyers representing Congo said Thursday that they sent letters to Apple’s CEO Tim Cook and its French subsidiary this week, raising concerns astir quality authorities violations involving nan minerals extracted from mines successful nan country’s troubled eastbound that mightiness extremity up being utilized successful nan company’s products.
AT LEAST 250,000 DISPLACED AS CONFLICTS RAGE ON IN THE CONGO
They included a database of questions challenging Apple to show really it monitors its proviso chains successful a region wherever much than 100 equipped rebel groups operate, immoderate of whom person been accused of carrying retired wide killings of civilians.
A Congolese miner sifts done crushed rocks to abstracted retired nan cassiterite, nan main ore that is processed into tin, successful nan municipality of Nyabibwe, eastbound Congo, Aug. 16, 2012. Congo’s authorities is questioning Apple astir nan tech company’s knowledge of "blood minerals" from a conflict area successful nan African state that could beryllium smuggled into proviso chains. A group of world lawyers representing Congo said Thursday, April 25, 2024, that it sent letters to Apple’s CEO Tim Cook and its French subsidiary this week raising concerns astir quality authorities violations involving nan minerals extracted from mines successful nan country’s war-torn east. (AP Photo/Marc Hofer)
Writing to Cook, nan lawyers said "it has go clear to america that twelvemonth aft year, Apple has sold exertion made pinch minerals originated from a region whose organization is being devastated by sedate violations of quality rights."
"The iPhones, Mac computers and accessories that Apple sells to its customers astir nan world trust connected proviso chains that are excessively opaque, and that are tainted by nan humor of nan Congolese people," nan lawyers said.
Eastern Congo is 1 of nan astir mineral-rich regions successful nan world but is besides nan tract of a immense humanitarian disaster, pinch nan equipped groups fighting for years for power of nan mines and nan valuable minerals successful them, and millions of group displaced and affected by nan worsening violence. The business has deteriorated severely successful nan past fewer months.
Apple, which has a marketplace worth of astir $2.6 trillion, has denied utilizing minerals from mines and regions wherever quality authorities violations return place, saying it conducts business ethically and "responsibly" sources minerals successful Congo and neighboring countries.
The minerals it buys don't finance warfare aliases equipped groups, it says. The lawyers for nan Congo authorities said "those claims do not look to beryllium based connected concrete, verifiable evidence."
The Congo authorities said it has suspicions that immoderate of nan tin, tungsten, tantalum and golden — known arsenic nan 3TG captious minerals — that Apple sources from suppliers is smuggled retired of Congo to neighboring Rwanda and past infiltrated into nan world proviso chain. The 3TG minerals are cardinal components successful electronics.
In consequence to a petition for comment, Apple pointed to a conception from a institution filing connected conflict minerals.
"Based connected our owed diligence efforts, including analyzing nan accusation provided by third-party audit programs, upstream traceability programs, and our suppliers, we recovered nary reasonable ground for concluding that immoderate of nan smelters aliases refiners of 3TG wished to beryllium successful our proviso concatenation arsenic of December 31, 2023 straight aliases indirectly financed aliases benefited equipped groups successful nan DRC aliases an adjoining country," nan study said, utilizing nan abbreviation for Democratic Republic of nan Congo.
"In Congo, group person been dying for 30 years arsenic a consequence of forbidden mining," Congo authorities spokesperson Patrick Muyaya said. "We want explanation connected nan sources of proviso for awesome exertion companies, successful peculiar Apple, to verify whether they are acquiring minerals produced successful wholly forbidden conditions."
He said Rwanda "is presented" arsenic nan supplier for galore of nan minerals while having fewer reserves of its own.
Congo has accused Rwanda of financing and directing nan notorious equipped rebel group M23 successful eastbound Congo to thief extract minerals illegally. The United Nations besides says M23 is backed by Rwanda.
Rwanda denies that but tensions betwixt nan countries are flaring, while M23 and different groups are accused of regularly carrying retired attacks that see nan sidesplitting and raping of civilians, according to Human Rights Watch.
The lawyers for nan Congo authorities quoted a 2022 study by nonprofit group Global Witness that claimed Apple had antecedently applied "few meaningful mitigation measures" to debar utilizing smuggled minerals.
The Congo authorities was now seeking "effective redress" against "end-users of humor minerals" crossed nan world, nan lawyers said.
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They asked Apple to respond to questions complete its proviso concatenation controls wrong 3 weeks and said they had compiled a study connected "the laundering" of Congo's minerals by Rwanda and backstage entities that would beryllium made nationalist this month.
They besides would activity instructions from nan Congo authorities arsenic to what ineligible measures it is considering against Apple, nan missive said.
