Congo is currently hosting the deadliest war since World War II and the highest rates of sexual violence in the world.
Thousands of women are being raped.
Over 5 million people have died so far.
All this over the control of Congo’s minerals.
Minerals that are in our cell phones, laptops, and mp3 players.
The Enough Project ranked electronics companies on actions in five categories that have significant impact on the conflict minerals trade: tracing, auditing, certification, legislative support, and stakeholder engagement. The survey focused on the electronics industry because it is the main combined end-user of the four conflict minerals from eastern Congo. They chose the top industry leaders in five main consumer electronics products: mobile phones, computers, televisions, MP3 players, and video game systems. In total, there were 18 specific criteria in the five categories.
1. Tracing: Has the company traced its suppliers of tin, tantalum, tungsten, and gold (3TG)? (four questions)
2. Auditing: Does the company have audits conducted of its suppliers of the 3TG minerals to determine mine of origin and chain of custody? (six questions)
3. Certification: Has the company taken concrete steps to develop an international certification regime for the 3TG minerals? (three questions)
4. Stakeholder engagement: Has the company had regular engagement with the NGO coalition, led by Enough, on the conflict minerals issue? (two questions)
5. Support for legislation: Has the company supported the legislation on conflict minerals? (three questions)
Check out the rankings here
There are four stars and as yet nobody has a gold star.
Scoring System
Gold Star: Conflict-Free
These companies are industry leaders. They fully investigate their supply chains, exercise leadership in industry-wide efforts, and produce certified conflict-free products.
Yellow: Room for Improvement
(Score: 5 to 14%) These companies have taken some steps to investigate their supply chains, and are members of the industry-wide effort, but more action is required of them.
Green: On the Right Track
(Score: more than 15%) These companies have taken proactive action to trace, audit, and certify their supply chains and have exercised leadership in industry-wide efforts.
Red: Falling Behind
(Score: less than 5%) These companies have done next to nothing to shift their practices toward conflict-free. They are not members of the electronics industry association process, and have not engaged with other stakeholders.
Company Rankings
Gold Star - None
Green Star - Dell, HP, Intel, Microsoft, Motorola, Nokia
Yellow Star - Acer, Apple, IBM, Lenovo, LG, Philips, RIM, Samsung, Sony Ericsson
Red Star - Canon, Nintendo, Panasonic, SanDisk, Sharp, Toshiba
This consumer action guide will customers understand what actions companies are or are not taking so they use consumer power to make more responsible purchasing decisions and send messages to companies, reminding them how important conflict-free is.Tell the vendors what you think by going here
Download the full report here
Here is a quick visual on the best performaing vendors. Good on you Hewlett Packard
Legal Disclaimer: Please note that the publication of the corporate trademarks/content on the site is not associated with the trademark owners. This campaign is not sponsored by or affiliated with the trademark owners.
Take a look at the 60 minutes article below