The Democratic Republic of Congo accuses Apple of using minerals sourced from illegal mining. DRC communities affected by illicit mining explore the p

Why the DRC sued Apple over 'conflict minerals'

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2024-12-21 18:30:04

The Democratic Republic of Congo accuses Apple of using minerals sourced from illegal mining. DRC communities affected by illicit mining explore the potential ramifications of a victory against the US tech giant.

In a criminal complaint filed on Tuesday, the Democratic Republic of Congo accuses Apple of making use of minerals that originate from illegal mining in the DRC. Primarily, these are the so-called 3T minerals — tin, tantalum, tungsten — and gold.

UN officials have reported out that some mines are operated by armed groups that are reported to be involved in massacres of the civilian population, widespread sexual assault, rampant looting and other crimes.

"The goal is to show consumers that the product they have in their hands is contaminated by international crimes," the Belgian lawyer Christophe Marchand, who prepared the DRC's case against Apple, told DW.

Specifically, the DRC accuses Apple's French and Belgian subsidiaries of smuggling Congolese raw materials via Rwanda. In addition to "laundering minerals from conflict zones," one of the complaints filed by the lawyers on behalf of the DRC's Justice Ministry accuses Apple of employing "misleading business practices to assure consumers that supply chains are clean."