The Democratic Republic of Congo has filed criminal lawsuits against Apple subsidiaries in France and Belgium, accusing technology companies of using conflict minerals in their supply chains, a lawyer for the Congo government told Reuters.
Congo is the main source of so-called 3T minerals used in computers and mobile phones for tin, tartar and tungsten. However, according to UN experts and human rights groups, some artisanal mining is run by armed groups involved in massacre of civilians, mass rape, robbery and other crimes.
Apple will not purchase major minerals directly and says it reviews suppliers, publishes discoveries and funds in an attempt to improve mineral traceability.
It filed an application for conflict minerals with the SEC in 2023, and neither smelters or refiners of 3T minerals or gold in its supply chains have funded or benefited from armed groups in the Congo or neighboring countries.
But international lawyers representing Congo believe that Apple uses minerals plundered from Congo and launders money through international supply chains, which they say makes the company accomplice a crime in Congo.
In a complaint with peers to the Paris Attorney’s Office and the Belgian Investigation Magistrate’s Office on Monday, Congo accused local subsidiary Apple France, Apple Retail France and Apple Retail Belgium of various crimes.
These include covering up war crimes and washing contaminated minerals, handling stolen goods and conducting deceptive business practices to ensure that consumers’ supply chains are clean.
“It’s clear that Apple Group, Apple France and Apple Retail France are very clear that their mineral supply chains rely on systemic wrongdoing,” the French complaint said.
Christophe Marchand, a Belgian lawyer in Congo, said Belgium had a special moral obligation because the robbery of Congo’s resources began with the colonial rule of Leopold II in the 19th century.
“Belgium has the responsibility to help Congo use judicial means to end the plunder,” he said.
The complaint prepared by lawyers on behalf of the Congolese Attorney General not only raises charges against local subsidiaries, but also targets the entire Apple group.
France and Belgium were chosen because they emphasized corporate accountability. The judicial authorities in both countries will decide whether to investigate the complaint further and file criminal charges.
In an unrelated case in March, the U.S. federal court dismissed the attempted liability of private plaintiffs to put Apple, Google, Tesla, Dell and Microsoft on the plaintiff’s reliance on the cobalt mines described by the plaintiff.
Minerals burn violence
Since the 1990s, Congo has been damaged by waves of fighting between armed groups in the heart of the mining industry in the eastern part of the country, with support from neighboring Rwanda and Congolese troops.
Millions of civilians died and were displaced.
Competition for minerals is one of the main drivers of conflict, often smuggled through Rwanda, as armed groups maintain themselves and purchase weapons on export proceeds, according to UN experts and human rights groups.
Rwanda denies benefiting from trade.
In the appendix to the Congolese legal complaint in France, the U.S. State Department issued a statement in July expressing concerns about the role of illegal trade in the Congolese mining industry in minerals, including Tatalem.
The statement is a response to the private sector’s request that the U.S. government require the use of minerals exported from eastern Congo, Rwanda and Uganda to clarify the potential risks associated with the manufacture of products.
Congo’s complaints focus on ITSCI, a monitoring and certification program funded by the metals industry, designed to help companies with due diligence on 3T minerals exported from Congo, Rwanda, Berlundi and Uganda.
Congo’s lawyers believe that ITSCI has been discredited, including Apple as a member’s Responsible Minerals Program (RMI), and despite this, Apple still uses ITSCI as fig leaf to falsely put its supply chain on a clean state.
RMI, which includes more than 500 companies, announced in 2022 that it will remove it from its approved traceability plan list.
It said in July this year that it extended the moratorium, at least until 2026, saying ITSCI did not provide on-site observations of high-risk locations or explains how it responds to escalating violence in the Northern Kivo province, which borders Rwanda and is Key 3T mining area.
ITSCI criticized RMI’s own process and defended his work in Congo. It also rejected the charges in a 2022 report, with the campaign group’s global witness entitled “Itsci Laundry” cited in Congo’s legal complaint in France, which is a false label of minerals from conflict areas, from A mine located in a peaceful area of peace. .
Apple mentioned it five times in its 2023 document on conflict minerals. The document also made several references to RMI, which Apple said it has been actively involved and led, but did not mention RMI’s abandonment of ITSCI.
The State Department said in a July statement that the flaws in the traceability plan have not yet received enough participation and attention, leading to the required changes.
Congo’s U.S. attorney Robert Amsterdam said the complaints from France and Belgium were the first criminal complaints from the Congolese country against a major technology company, calling them “the first Salvo.”
©Thomson Reuters 2024
(This story has not been edited by Tech Word News’s staff and is automatically generated from the joint feed.)
