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Global Witness: Due Diligence against Violence

The conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) continues to escalate. In view of the significant contribution played by the sale of minerals in financing conflict activities, the Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) Global Witness addressed a recommendation paper to companies, buyers, and governments. The report demands decisive steps to avoid conflicting parties’ continued enrichment from the mineral trade and the resulting intensifying conflict dynamics. Rebel groups as well as members of the Congolese national army have been relying on both the abundance and the constant external demand of cassiterite, gold or coltan for years.

International efforts aimed at improving corporate responsibility have not yet succeeded. In the spring of this year, John Ruggie, the Special Representative of the “UN Secretary General on Human Rights and Transnational Corporations and other Business Enterprises,” emphasized the need for concrete contributions of companies in conflict areas in his report “Protect, Respect and Remedy: a Framework for Business and Human Rights.” However, as the recent violation of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises by a British enterprise in the DRC indicates, the normative power of the international framework remains too weak.

Against this backdrop, Global Witness calls for stringent due diligence when buying and trading minerals from the DRC. The organisation asks companies, buyers and governments to require exact information about where the minerals came from and by whom and under which conditions they were produced. Should doubts remain regarding this information Global Witness is clear: refuse to buy the minerals or risk further aggravating the catastrophic situation in the region. (Dennis Taenzler)

For the recommendations of Global Witness please see
www.globalwitness.org/media_library_get.php/687/due_diligence_recs_congo_2008_en.pdf
For more information on the activities of John Ruggie please see:
http://www.business-humanrights.org/Gettingstarted/UNSpecialRepresentative

Published in:ECC-Newsletter, December 2008