Congo Files Criminal Complaint Against Apple Over Conflict Minerals

The DRC is a significant source of minerals used in devices such as cell phones and computers.

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has filed a complaint against Apple subsidiaries in France and Belgium, accusing the tech company of using conflict minerals in its supply chain, Reuters reports.

In the complaints filed with the Paris prosecutor’s office and a Belgian investigating magistrate’s office on Monday, the DRC accused Apple France, Apple Retail France, and Apple Retail Belgium of using minerals stolen from the DRC and laundered through global supply chains in Rwanda, making them complicit in crimes committed by armed militia groups that control some of the mines in the eastern part of the country.

“These activities have fuelled a cycle of violence and conflict by financing militias and terrorist groups and have contributed to forced child labor and environmental devastation,” the joint statement by three law firms based in the United States, France, and Belgium said.

Congo is a source of tin, tantalum, tungsten, and 3T minerals used in mobile phones and other electronics. But some mines in the region are run by militia groups that have been accused of violent crimes such as mass murder and rape. According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, approximately 7 million people have been displaced due to violence in the eastern part of the DRC.

In an interview with Al Jazeera, Alex Kopp, senior campaigner at the Global Witness NGO’s transition minerals team, said that these armed groups use violence to take over mines in DRC for profit.

“They [rebels] 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,” Kopp said. “The minerals then get exported legally to big companies like Apple.”

Apple has denied the allegations and claims that it told its suppliers not to use minerals sourced from Congo or Rwanda.

“As conflict in the region escalated earlier this year, we notified our suppliers that their smelters and refiners must suspend sourcing tin, tantalum, tungsten, and gold from the DRC and Rwanda,” an Apple spokesperson told the BBC.