Is your iPhone, Blackberry or camera fuelling violence in DR Congo?

Congo-refugee-camp

As an iPhone user and lover of all things gadgety, I was concerned when I received an email from the ‘Raise Hope for Congo’ site alerting me that there’s a chance the gadgets I own may have played a piece in fuelling the awful war taking place out there.

Essentially the issue here is that product suppliers to the major electronic companies may be sourcing their parts from corrupt groups in the rebel held areas of the Congo region (a region rich in the ‘3 T’s – Tin, Tungsten and Tantalum). These three minerals are used in batteries, vibrator parts (for your phone….) and other elements.

Some stats:

Tin – used as a solder on circuit boards inside cell phones and laptops. 70% of the world’s tin is used as solder, and 5-10% of tin ore comes from eastern Congo.
Tantalum – used to store electricity in iPods, digital cameras, and cell phones. 70% of the world’s tantalum is used in electronic products, and 15% comes from Congo.
Tungsten – used to make your cell phone or Blackberry vibrate. Tungsten is a growing source of income for armed groups in Congo.

So what’s the point you’re probably asking. The point is, it’s good to hold these electronic giants to account and ask them about this. Raise Hope for Congo suggests sending a polite mail to those companies, asking them to make sure and to provide details of the concrete steps being taken to guarantee such minerals are being sourced from legitimate suppliers.

Play your part to help – read more on how you can make a difference by sending a simple e- mail or letter here.

Thank you to Julien Harneis for use of the above photo.

Matt wrote this on 22.01.09 – 1 comment
It's filed in the Democracy, Ethics, Interesting, Social media box