Is Your Phone the Next Blood Diamond?
Public Service announcement: Peace Society is happy to be endorsing a really exciting event happening this week. Both Hannah and I (Jacob), have been involved this year in the Kitchener-Waterloo Just Minerals Campaign. Check out our last column here, for more information on what we are all about. This week, however, we are excited to be hosting a member of parliament, Paul Dewar, who is flying all the way from Ottawa to speak at our event! We will kick things of at 3 in the SLC with a documentary called “Blood in the Mobile” to give you some context for the issue, and then we will have a presentation (starting around 4) from Paul followed by a panel roundtable with university faculty and students. Paul Dewar is the foreign Afairs Critic for the Ofcial Opposition. In March 2013, he introduced a private member’s bill, C-486. What is Bill C-486, and what will it do? Known as the ‘Conflict Minerals Act’, Bill C-486 “requires Canadian companies to exercise due diligence in respect of the exploitation and trading of designated minerals originating in the Great Lakes Region of Africa in seeking to ensure that no armed rebel organization or criminal entity or public or private security force that is engaged in illegal activities or serious human rights abuses has benefited from any transaction involving such minerals”. After the passing of the conflict minerals act, mining companies must design and implement strategies to respond to risks associated with resource extraction. This may include the suspension or discontinuing a relationship with a supplier. If Canadian companies do use conflict minerals, they must report their activities to the Canadian government, identifying the use of such minerals, description of products made from these minerals, and the location of the mine. The reporting aspect of the bill is part of a ‘name and shame’ strategy – to ensure that Canadian consumers know the relationship between their electronics, and human rights abuses in Africa. It’s similar to the ‘blood diamond’ movement in the attempt to raise awareness of the link between resource extraction and conflict. What does ‘conflict minerals’ mean? The Great Lakes Region of Africa (Angola, Burundi, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia) is home to enormous mineral wealth. These minerals, including gold, cassiterite, wolframite, and coltan, and their derivatives, including tin, tungsten and tantalum, are used in the manufacture of components in electronic devices, such as cell-phones and computers. All the major industry players source minerals from this region, including Apple, Blackberry, and Nokia, to name a few. In addition to the resource wealth of these countries, they also face severe challenges due to armed conflict. For example, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the state is unable to provide security in the Eastern half of the country, fuelling ongoing clashes between armed groups, UN intervention teams, and the Armed Forces of the DRC. In this conflict, widespread rape is used as a weapon of war, and it is estimated that over 5 million people have died in the DRC in the last 15 years. The armed groups rely on money from mining operations to fund their activities. They take control of mines, demand taxes from civilians, and export the minerals for profit. Workers toil in unsafe conditions for low pay, under threat of violence, while conflict rages in the region. Questions about the topic or the event? Come talk to Hannah or Jacob |
Summary of the Event: 3:00- Documentary Screening 4:15- Panel Begins Location- SLC Great Hall (that big open part) Why you should go- Free brownies and carrot cake, a chance to ask questions to a real MP and a chance to get to know about your community, both locally and across the world. |