Amnesty International Turns up the Heat on Conflict Minerals in the EU

Amnesty International put together a post about the weak conflict minerals legislation being discussed in EU parliament. European companies, responsible for almost a quarter of the global trade in tin, tungsten, tantalum, and gold, are participating in deadly conflict mineral trade without having to report if their purchases are sourced from countries supporting unethical labor practices. In particular, Amnesty International mentions what the EU legislation requires in order to efficiently regulate conflict minerals:

“‘At the moment we have no way of knowing what European companies are doing to avoid funding conflict or human rights abuses,’ said Michael Gibb of Global Witness. ‘The European commission has proposed legislation it claims will tackle the problem, but the draft law only goes so far as to suggest companies voluntarily check and declare the source of their minerals. Studies show companies simply don’t check their supply chains, unless they are required to. Putting it starkly, this legislation will not meaningfully reduce the trade in conflict minerals.’”

“The analysis reveals the extent of the EU’s role in the trade of minerals, which if sourced without proper checks from conflict-affected and high-risk areas, can be used to pay for armed groups and security forces who inflict insufferable violence on local communities.”

Audrey Graham, Amnesty International’s Director for Global Issue’s, believes that the EU needs to fix the legislation in order to “effectively tackle the link between European trade and violent human rights abuses oversees.”

While the European Union’s legislation is still in the building stages of regulating the sourcing of minerals from conflicted regions, publically traded companies in United States have already begun adhering to Dodd Frank Act Section 1502 - Conflict Minerals Regulation, and have started year two of conflict minerals reporting. Chris Bayer, researcher of Tulane University, surveyed issuer companies to determine post-filing impacts. Coming up on the 15th of October, an interview with Chris Bayer and Nick Aster, founder of Triple Pundit, will be hosted by Source Intelligence to ask details about the results of Tulane’s conflict minerals survey. To attend, sign-up here.

Read original Amnesty International article here.