Conflict Minerals

In a newly released industry white paper the Intel Corporation praised the Securities and Exchange Commission’s, or SEC, process for instituting rules concerning conflict minerals mined in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In section 1502, the conflict minerals provision of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, Congress empowered the SEC to draft regulations requiring, among other things, companies to disclose whether they use conflict minerals from the Congo in their products.  Read More »

2011 was a year of unprecedented action on behalf of freedom and human rights. When citizens flooded streets throughout the Middle East and North Africa, the U.S. and other countries dropped their long-standing presidential allies and demanded new leadership. When massive human rights abuses loomed in Libya and Ivory Coast, the international community acted decisively. That backdrop makes it all the more puzzling why the two countries where human rights abuses are worst in the world—Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo—have received such comparatively tepid international responses.  Read More »

Just over a week ago, a group of students and I who are part of the Coalition for a Conflict-Free Duke sent a video message to Tim Cook, Apple CEO and fellow Dukie, imploring him to create a conflict-free product by the end of 2013. Student leader Stefani Jones wrote this blog post that originally appeared on Huffington Post.  Read More »

When Rwanda returned about 90 metric tons of smuggled minerals to Congolese authorities early November last year, many took that as a sign of a growing commitment by the regional powers to fight illicit mineral trade. It went largely unnoticed until now that the returned minerals vanished on the Congolese side  Read More »

The trial of former Lord’s Resistance Army commander Thomas Kwoyelo took a new turn but did not conclusively end yesterday when the High Court of Uganda ordered that Kwoyelo be granted amnesty.  Read More »

On Wednesday night, Gaithersburg, Maryland became the epicenter of the grassroots movement to end the conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. The small, unassuming town reminds you of something out of a scene from "Gone with the Wind." Complete with an old train station and a main street lined with small storefronts, Gaithersburg isn’t the place where you might necessarily expect neighbors, students, community leaders, and Congolese immigrants to gather to discuss how their community can affect change in the Congo.  Read More »

The BBC published an article today—notably quoting three Enoughers or former Enoughers—called “How to offset your ‘conflict minerals’ guilt,” about the link between our electronics and the atrocities committed by armed groups in Congo over the control of key mines. However, as the article reveals, this issue is not about feeling guilty but about harnessing the power of technology for good, to feel empowered to help spur change in eastern Congo.  Read More »

Apple released its 2012 Sustainability Report last Friday, and it showed that it is doing some things very well on conflict minerals and other things not very well.  Read More »

A weekly round-up of must-read stories, posted every Friday.  Read More »

Actress and activist Robin Wright wrote this oped that originally appeared on the action-oriented website TakePart to inspired advocates to join the movement demanding conflict-free electronics from Congo. Wright recently traveled to the war-torn eastern region of Congo with a team from the Enough Project, who also produced her video trip diaries.  Read More »