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Books by John Prendergast
Congress Passes Conflict Minerals Legislation
Today, Congo activists, U.S. consumers, and the people of Congo won an incredible victory against long odds. Congress passed the Wall Street reform bill with the inclusion of a key provision on conflict minerals. The conflict minerals language requires companies that use tin, tungsten, tantalum, or gold in their products to file a disclosure report with the Securities and Exchange Commission detailing whether these materials originated in Congo or its adjoining countries. And thanks to you, the bill requires companies to audit these reports to actually prove whether they are sourcing from conflict mines or not.
While passage of the conflict minerals provision is not a cure-all for completely ending the war in Congo, it is a huge step forward. This new law – once it is signed by President Obama – begins to eliminate the source of funding that allows armed militias to continue to terrorize and humiliate communities, cause countless deaths, and commit widespread sexual violence and rape.
While the fight is not over, activists should be very proud of this impressive victory and deserve to relish in this moment. Across the United States, Congo activists, members of the diaspora, and concerned consumers – the growing movement across America that sees the urgency in ending the world’s deadliest war – rallied around the passage of this legislation. They overran the Facebook pages of elected officials, followed up with phone calls, met face-to-face with their representatives, and called on industry leaders to clean up their supply chain. Senators Sam Brownback (R-KS), Dick Durbin (D-IL), and Russ Feingold (D-WI), Representatives Jim McDermott (D-WA), Howard Berman (D-CA), and Donald Payne (D-NJ), Chairmen Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Barney Frank (D-MA), and many other brave members of Congress also deserve special praise for taking a major step to ending the neglected conflict in eastern Congo. These are just some examples of the creative advocacy that has helped elevate the issue of conflict minerals to reach today’s tipping point.
From the day President Obama signs the bill, the Securities and Exchange Commission will have nine months to promulgate regulations implementing the new law. It will be up to us to ensure that these regulations are as strong as possible. While the jewelry and manufacturing lobbyists were caught off guard by the conflict minerals language and weighed in too late to remove the language, you can be sure industries will fight to make sure the regulations implementing the law are as weak as possible. As this story continues to develop, we’ll be coming to you with new ways of getting engaged. Please stick with us.
Congratulations on today’s exciting victory!
Photo: Tin ore (Sasha Lezhnev)
The conflict minerals legislation is intended to address the ongoing conflict in the eastern DRC. The premise of the bill is that the sale of certain minerals are helping armed groups continue to buy weapons and fund their fighting. These minerals are frequently referred to as “conflict minerals,” and are comprised of tantalum (coltan), cassiterite (tin), wolframite (tungsten), and gold. These minerals are commonly utilized in a variety of commercial products, such as automobiles, cellular phones, and airplane engines. The legislation therefore affects a large spectrum of industries, including technology, automotive, mining, jewelry, and aerospace.
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642-374 ll 1Y0-A05 ll 350-018 ll 642-524 ll 640-553
Corporations have long refused to accept blame for using conflict minerals, saying that the supply chain that brings the raw materials to them passes through so many hands, that it is impossible to trace the origin of the minerals. Pubblicità gratuita immobili
I had NO IDEA this was such a BIG problem. Incredible. I am glad activists are taking a step to form a relationships with leaders so they can have more influence on their decisions. Shouting and calling for change is good for the short run but not the best strategy for the long run in my opinion.
Best wishes, Ivanna, Writer for Find People People Search Magazine.
Thanks for all your efforts and getting us to this stage . I so proud of you and we hope to keep this awareness growing among more and more people . I had never ever heard about Conflict Minerals until Lisa Shannon , my hero , introduced it to me in May this year . After I saw " Blood Diamonds " and "Worse than War" this weekend , I have decided to say " That 's Enough".
Congratulations , to all my friends on the Enough project , Raise hope for Congo, No Blood Minerals, Run for Congo Women and not to mention my near and dear friends of A Thousand Sisters groups for standing up and letting people and Senators know what is the right thing to do.
Love,
Richa
We have been knocking on the door of the electronics companies for a while now and I believe that this development will be loud enough to cause them to listen, not just hear.
Hopefully they will open the door and begin a REAL dialogue and start making some REAL changes.
Congratulations to everyone who worked so hard. Let's use this time to get ready for the next round.
No Blood Minerals
http://www.facebook.com/NoBloodMinerals
http://www.twitter.com/NoBloodMinerals
This a major victory for the grassroots human rights movement. We should all be proud, yet un-ceasingly vigilant. We need to defend the 'voiceless' against those who are willing to exploit them to improve their bottom-line. Thanks Enough!
Astonishing Victory!!! Thanks to everyone who stood up, showed up, and shouted out loud to congress and its members for this legislation. I'm proud to be a part of this movement. We have only began. Thanks to Lisa Shannon for that first nine mile run for "Women of the Congo." Many thanks to Enough for your diligent and viligent work.