Genocide has been going on in Africa for decades now and, for some reason, they have been able to fund their operations even when countries around the world have backed off and not provided funding for those countries. In 2003, the Kimberely Process Certification Scheme was put into place in which countries could opt into the program where they’d agree to not allow the importing of diamonds that came from conflict areas. In other words, “blood diamonds” could not be purchased in countries that agreed with it. In a few years, this greatly reduced the number of diamonds purchased from conflict areas which limited the funds of these militants.
The same thing has started again, but this time, with the minerals that are used in items such as laptops and cell phones. Coltan and niobium are required for cell phones to function properly because, especially for coltan, it allows for smaller chips to work more effectively which is necessary in tiny cell phones. The downfall of this, though, is that each year, militant groups in the Democratic Republic of the Congo make over $180 million a year on the control and trade of mines of all sorts of minerals including the coltan that is necessary for cell phones. In other words, when an American purchases a cell phone, they could be inadvertently funding genocide.
It is because of this that the United States needs to recognize a new sort of agreement that would make it necessary that companies be transparent on where these minerals came from. If the companies want to continue importing these minerals from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, let them; however, they need to be clear to their customers that the minerals come from conflict areas and that when they purchase a cell phone that they are funding, in some way or another, the continuous genocide in Africa.
The best way to ensure that the minerals that are coming to these companies don’t come from the DRC is to have the companies audit their suppliers to ensure that the minerals come from sources that don’t fund the militants. Another way would be to call your individual cell phone company and explain that you are interested in doing business with a cell phone company that sells conflict-free cell phones. When enough people are calling and threatening to end their contracts, the cell phone companies will begin to listen.
Currently in Congress is the Congo Conflict Minerals Act S. 891 which makes it a requirement for companies to report each year to the SEC with where their minerals came from. This is an effective way to guarantee that companies are not getting their minerals from these conflict areas, but the market can fix it just as effectively if the people care enough. It might increase the cost of cell phones a small bit, but if the people care enough about the genocide going on in Africa, this would be a small way that a difference could be made and the continuous rapes and murders could be brought to an end. Otherwise, nothing will change. Change starts with the person; call your cell phone company.
Forty five thousand people die every year in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The weapons and armament necessary to commit these heinous crimes are funded by minerals and diamonds, gold and extortion. The Kimberely Process was put in place to try and limit the amount of money these militants can make from diamonds. Now there needs to be something similar in place to ensure that minerals come from conflict-free areas. If this doesn’t happen, there will be continuous genocide in Africa.
About Jacob Cohen Donnelly
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