Campaign persuades EU to introduce controls on trade in conflict minerals

Four common conflict minerals: coltan, cassiterite, gold ore, wolframite. Wiki image Rob Lavinsky, iRocks.com

A EU wide campaign in which Jesuit Missions and other European Jesuit organisations have played a leading role, has resulted in the European Parliament approving a regulation which could benefit thousands of poor people in some of the most fragile and conflict-ridden countries in the developing world.

The campaign focused on the trade worth millions of euros annually in minerals (eg gold, diamonds, tantalum, tin, copper, coal) which are used in every day products like aeroplanes, cars, mobile phones and laptops. However, their extraction often perpetuates and exacerbates a cycle of conflict and human rights abuses in these countries. Despite this, the EU has no legislation in place to ensure companies source their minerals responsibly such that no questions are asked about how they are extracted or whether their trade fuels conflict.

Jesuit Missions said in a statement: "Through our purchase and use of these goods, we are connected to the hundreds of thousands who have been displaced by conflict in the Central African Republic and Colombia; and to the thousands who have endured years of violence and abuse in parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

"In March 2014, the European Commission put forward a draft regulation to address the trade in conflict minerals which, if it had passed, would have had no meaningful impact. It covers just four minerals: tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold. It was entirely voluntary and it would cover only a tiny proportion of EU companies involved in the trade. Now MEPs have rejected the Commission's proposals and voted resoundingly in favour of mandatory compliance.

"It is a small but significant victory in the struggle to ensure poor countries and their populations are not exploited because of the vast natural wealth which they possess. Jesuit Missions has been working on this issue as part of the Global Ignatian Advocacy Network. We lobbied the UK government (who were unsympathetic) and key UK MEPs. The next step of the campaign will be to persuade the UK government not to water down the regulation when they discuss it with the Commission."

Source: Jesuit Missions