An Unintended Legacy: The External Policy Responses of the US and European Union to Conflict Minerals in Africa (original) (raw)
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The EU Response to the Trade in Conflict Minerals from Central Africa
The trade in conflict minerals has led to the eruption and conservation of conflicts and gross violations of human rights, in particular in the central African region. In response, various public and private entities have taken measures to counter this development. The purpose of this essay is to analyze how the European Union, in light of its promotion of corporate social responsibility, should regulate the behaviour of multinational companies dealing with minerals from conflict-ridden areas. In light of recent initiatives taken by the UN, the United States and the mineral-extraction industry, it is examined whether the EU should adopt public regulation or whether it should continue its promotion of private self-regulatory regimes. The authors argue that the EU should promote regulation at the level that provides the strongest incentive for companies to comply with their duties. This article shows that both private and public regulation have their limitations in regulating the trade in conflict minerals and that the EU should thus adopt a mix of both. In doing so, the development of transparency norms can be delegated to companies, stakeholders and other affected parties, while the EU could provide for an effective accountability mechanism to enforce these norms.
Spanish Yearbook of International Law, 2020
Regulation 2017/821 laying down supply chain due diligence obligations for importers in the European Union establishes a common System of obligations that entail minimum standards of responsible sourcing hitherto unknown in Europe. It represents a positive trend in the strengthening of due diligence practices and respect for human rights by European companies when exercising cross-border activities. This paper provides an analysis of its application in order to highlight its possible strengths and weaknesses before it is finally implemented.
Policy Brief on EU Actions on Conflict Minerals
The European Union (EU) is in the process of passing a proposal to introduce regulations that may require companies importing and smelting tin, tantalum and tungsten (3Ts) and gold to report the origins of minerals These minerals are essential in high-tech products such as smart phones, LCD, laptop, etc. The policy brief evaluates the potential impacts of such a regulation and its implications on the situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The DRC is one of the major supply countries of these conflict minerals with many mines under control of armed groups and involving the use of child labor. The proposed regulation may have positive impacts in terms of demilitarizing mines in the DRC, but the targeted companies will face significant obstacles in implementing it and the implementation process may result in considerable negative, unintended consequences on the life of the Congolese. To effectively clean the supply chain and sustain the livelihood of the Congolese, the EU should implement the following course of action in collaboration with the DRC government, donors and humanitarian/development organizations: ➢ Require companies to report mineral sources; ➢ Support companies to conduct due diligence; and ➢ Work with different actors to sustain alternative livelihoods for Congolese miners.
Conflict Minerals Regulation: Mapping International Initiatives and Challenges Ahead
Southern African Peace and Security Studies Volume 3 Number 1, 2014
Recent years have seen the development of a vast array of regulatory frameworks, codes of conduct and other regimes aiming at regulating international trade in so-called ‘conflict minerals’, mostly originating from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). National governments, international institutions and industry have contributed to a substantial development of standards that, however, appear to be built on an inadequate understanding of the causes that link conflict and minerals. This paper reviews the main existing initiatives from the perspective of their goals, scope and shortcomings, and contrasts them with the criticisms voiced by Congolese and international experts who are better in tune with the local reality. With this, this paper aims to discuss the fact that the current focus placed on perfecting existing regimes is carried out at the margin of local stakeholders, which renders existing initiatives inefficient at addressing the problem of conflict minerals and have perverse side effects for the local mining communities.
This paper reviews recent developments in the human rights due diligence concept. In doing so, it highlights the challenges of developing and applying human rights due diligence processes in mineral supply chains in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the broader Great Lakes region. The eastern DRC has valuable industrial minerals such as tantalite, cassiterite and tungsten, all of which are critical components in the electronics industry. Since 1996 this part of the DRC has seen violent conflict that has claimed more than 5 million lives and is considered one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. This civil war has been variously explained as a manifestation of the resource curse or rebel greed, profiteering from the minerals trade. The demand for these ‘conflict minerals’ remains strong and the minerals trade continues to provide both an incentive and a means for belligerents to maintain their operations. In the DRC, about 90% of minerals are mined using artisanal methods, and minerals are often traded informally. In this context, applying human rights due diligence through establishing traceability has been promoted as a means to ensure responsible sourcing of raw materials and curb the trade in conflict minerals. Moreover, it has become a legal requirement through the conflict minerals provision of the 2010 US Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Given the complex supply chains of these minerals and the weak governance capacity in the DRC, a number of initiatives adopt multistakeholder processes to develop and implement human rights due diligence. This analysis is based on a review of six such frameworks, and concludes that the narrow focus on traceability is unlikely to prevent minerals from being used to finance belligerents. The paper argues that this limitation largely stems from the reductionist approach of the resource curse theories, which could have an adverse impact on local communities. Instead, including key local stakeholders in developing and implementing human rights due diligence processes could lead to the sustainable management of mineral resources.
Conflict minerals policy shows the EU can and does learn from the mistakes of others
2019
The EU’s Conflict Minerals Regulation, which will come into force in 2021, aims to restrict the trade of minerals that are mined via forced labour and used to finance armed conflicts. As Dirk-Jan Koch and Olga Burlyuk explain, the EU attempted to learn from the mistakes of earlier legislation in the United States that had sought to tackle the problem. They write that while EU processes can be lengthy and bureaucratic, the case of conflict minerals legislation shows these long-winded processes do create a setting in which lessons can be learned.
2016
The purpose of the OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chain of Minerals from Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas (hereafter OECD Guidance) is to provide comprehensive recommendations for companies so that they thoroughly respect human rights when sourcing minerals or metals. 1 In other words, its ambition is to enable companies to no longer finance conflicts in the country of origin of minerals and metals, no matter how distant in the supply chain they are from the origin of the mineral. Conflict-affected and high-risk areas are determined based on the presence of armed conflict, widespread violence or other risks of harm to people. The OECD Guidance is based on the supply chain due diligence process. This process is defined as an ongoing proactive and reactive process that allows companies to make reasonable as well as thorough efforts in addressing risks with respect to sourcing of tin, tantalum, tungsten, their ores and mineral derivatives, and gold (hereafter 3TG).
The Process Of Responsibilization. Linking Business to Conflict Minerals and Human Rights Abuse
ABSTRACT We examine the process through which responsibility for ‘wicked problems’ is socially constructed and attributed to particular actors. Private companies have taken on increasing responsibilities for what were previously considered public issues. However, what counts as public or private responsibilities especially in the context of wicked problems remains highly contested. Drawing on a case study of conflict minerals in the Democratic Republic of Congo, this paper examines how private responsibility for human rights abuses was established through a process involving NGOs, state and industry. We contribute by 1) showing how the definition of an issue and its root cause shapes responsibility attribution, 2) identifying mechanisms through which responsibility frames are made binding and resilient and 3) showing how private and public responsibilities for an issue may emerge and shift over time and involve a broad spectrum of actors in complementary and conflicting roles.
This mine is mine! How minerals fuel conflicts in Africa
We combine georeferenced data on mining extraction of 14 minerals with information on conflict events at spatial resolution of 0.5 o × 0.5 o for all of Africa between 1997 and 2010. Exploiting exogenous variations in world prices, we find a positive impact of mining on conflict at the local level. Quantitatively, our estimates suggest that the historical rise in mineral prices (commodity super-cycle) might explain up to one-fourth of the average level of violence across African countries over the period. We then document how a fighting group's control of a mining area contributes to escalation from local to global violence. Finally, we analyze the impact of corporate practices and transparency initiatives in the mining industry. (JEL C23, D74, L70, O13, Q34) Natural riches such as valuable minerals have often been blamed for fueling armed fighting. A case that recently made headlines is the heavy fighting that broke out between the Rizeigat and Bani Hussein, two Arab tribes, for territorial control of the Jebel Amer gold mine in Darfur region. The conflict has killed more than
Africa and the EU Mineral Trade: POLINARES working paper n.77; December 2012
2012
Earlier chapters in POLINARES Workpackages 2 and 4 identified security of supply of raw materials as a key potential risk to continued EU competiveness. The position of the EU in global mineral interactions, and the resultant challenge of addressing the risk of security of supply in context of non-energy raw materials, was further discussed in Chapter 4 of this work package. This chapter elaborates upon these previous chapters, and aims to briefly illustrate the existing multilateral collaboration and regional development cooperation mechanisms. It concludes by highlighting certain considerations for future dealings between the EU and the Sub-Sahara African region regarding the securement of access to non-energy raw materials.