(Paris) The Congolese state accuses the Apple group of using “illegally exploited” minerals in its products which come “from Congolese mines” in which “many human rights are violated”, according to documents consulted by AFP .
According to the lawyers mandated by the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), these minerals would then be “transported out of the DRC and in particular to Rwanda, where they would be laundered”.
“It appears from the file” submitted by the DRC “that the Apple company uses strategic minerals purchased in Rwanda in its products,” assert the lawyers mandated to draft a formal notice, a summons before the initiation of legal proceedings.
“Rwanda is a central player in the illegal exploitation of minerals and in particular the exploitation of tin and tantalum in the DRC,” say the lawyers. “After their illegal extraction, these minerals are smuggled into Rwanda, where they are integrated into global supply chains,” states the formal notice.
“These disputed minerals come largely from Congolese mines in which numerous human rights are violated,” continue the lawyers.
This formal notice was sent this week to the two Apple subsidiaries in France by French lawyers William Bourdon and Vincent Brengarth. A letter was also sent to the American parent company of the technology giant, which notably markets the iPhone and Mac computers.
The subsoil of the DRC is full of minerals, the country being the world’s leading producer of cobalt and the leading African producer of copper.
According to a report by the NGO The Enough Project published in 2015, “these mineral sites often appear to be controlled by armed groups who force, through violence and terror, civilians to work there and transport these minerals. Children are also forced to work in these mines.”
The Kinshasa government accuses Rwanda of wanting to take control of the resources, particularly mining, of eastern Congolese, one of the reasons why, according to it, Kigali supports the M23 rebellion, on the offensive for more than two years in the province of North Kivu.
The M23 currently controls large parts of North Kivu and surrounds the provincial capital Goma.
This formal notice from Apple is explained according to these lawyers “by the extraordinary seriousness of the situation in the east of the DRC and which is a source of very serious damage to the local population and to the Congolese state”.
“Blood Ores”
“The responsibility of Apple, and beyond that of large high-tech manufacturers, when they use blood minerals, has long remained a black box,” lawyers William Bourdon, lawyer at Paris office, and Robert Amsterdam, lawyer at the London bar.
The lawyers consider “notoriously insufficient” the “various commitments and precautions taken” by Apple, “either on its own initiative or in application of the law with regard to the use of minerals purchased in Rwanda”.
“The DRC intends to moralize the rare mineral extraction sector, especially when they are extracted at the cost of committing the most serious crimes and sometimes for the benefit of those who commit them,” they argue.
“The Apple company seems to rely mainly on the vigilance of its suppliers and their commitment to respecting Apple’s code of conduct, as well as external audits carried out on the activity of these suppliers. However, both these suppliers and the auditing companies appear to rely on ITSCI certification, the serious and numerous malfunctions of which have been demonstrated,” states the formal notice.
The Tin Supply Chain Initiative (ITSCI) program is one of the main mechanisms put in place more than 10 years ago to ensure a supply of “conflict-free” and responsibly mined minerals in the DRC, according to the British NGO Global Witness.
In April 2022, this NGO accused this program of contributing in the DRC to the contrary in the laundering of minerals linked to conflicts, child labor, or resulting from trafficking and smuggling.
To source tin, tantalum and tungsten (the so-called “3T” metals, widely used in electronic equipment), large companies such as Apple, Intel, Samsung, Nokia, Motorola, Tesla, rely on this “failing” mechanism. “, lamented the NGO, which revealed that “in a certain mining area” in eastern DRC, “90% of the minerals that entered the program during the first quarter of 2021 did not come from validated mines.”
Apple’s formal notice from the DRC is accompanied by a list of questions on “3T minerals used in Apple products”. The lawyers put Apple on notice to respond “within three weeks”.
“All legal options are now on the table,” the lawyers added.
Contacted by AFP, Apple referred to elements published in its 2023 annual report on conflict minerals. This indicated that it had “found no reasonable basis to conclude that any of the 3TG (tin, tungsten, tantalum, gold) smelters or refineries determined to be part of our supply chain as of December 31, 2023 directly or indirectly financed or benefited armed groups in the DRC or in a neighboring country. »