Gold, tungsten, tantalum and tin: these are raw materials that you may never think about, but they are the link between our most common electronic devices and conflicts across the world.
These minerals make our cell phones vibrate, help our camera batteries hold a charge, and power our laptops. They also help fund wars by providing a source of income for armed groups.
In 2013, rebel groups in the Democratic Republic of the Congo generated almost $1bn from minerals (pdf) extracted from mines in conflict zones. And armed groups use these profits from this trade to pay soldiers, buy weapons and attract new recruits. The cash flow from conflict minerals is crucial to the war effort, and combatants are willing to use brutality to obtain minerals.
Civilians unlucky enough to live near deposits of conflict minerals are driven from their homes, subjected to horrific human rights abuses, and sometimes forced into slave labour in the mines. Armed groups rape men, women and children. Rape in this context is not the collateral damage of warfare - it is the direct result of the illicit trade in conflict minerals.
Most companies are five to seven layers removed from this violent phase of the mineral supply chain. Conflict minerals travel through smelters, refiners, brokers and commodity exchanges before they end up in a smart phone or computer. The supply chain may be complex, but the link between sexual violence and conflict minerals is not: the international demand for these minerals fuels a vicious cycle of rape and war.
If we tolerate the presence of conflict minerals in our products, the sexual violence used to obtain these minerals will continue.
Companies can develop ethical sourcing practices that do not fund the activities of armed groups. Some companies that have realised their minerals come from conflict have withdrawn from war-affected areas, but this does not break the link between conflict minerals and sexual violence, and it may cause further damages.
For example, it's estimated that the mining sector generates jobs for one sixth of the formal workforce in the DRC (pdf). A sudden, dramatic change in the local economy could have unintended socioeconomic consequences, and it may even trigger additional bloodshed as mining activities are driven deeper underground.
The solution is not to completely disengage from volatile regions, but to source materials in a way that preserves and protects human rights as well as the local economy.
The transformation of minerals into metals by smelters is the last stage where information about the origin of minerals in known. The Electronics Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC) recommends that corporations use this stage of production to identify and eliminate conflict minerals. The Advanced Micro Devices successfully used this method to identify more than 180 smelters and refiners in its supply chain.
Apple publishes a public list of smelters and refiners from where it sources its materials, and Intel's chief executive, Brian Krzanich, broke new ground this year when he pledged that all Intel microprocessors will be conflict free.
These companies' commitment to human rights also increases the value of their brands, so good corporate citizenship is profitable as well as ethical.
The people who suffer from conflict minerals and the corresponding sexual violence are our future partners in commerce and development; they need humane commitments from the private sector to unlock their potential for growth.
Zainab Hawa Bangura is special representative on sexual violence in conflict at the United Nations.
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