Leaving the Beaten Track? The EU Regulation on Conflict Minerals
Publisher: Royal Institute for International Relations
Author(s): Jeroen Cuvelier
Date: 2017
Topics: Extractive Resources, Governance
Since the end of the 1990s, natural resources have been the focus point of policymakers, academics, journalists, NGO activists and other observers trying to find a solution to the enduring armed conflict in Africa’s Great Lakes region. The illegal exploitation of mineral resources such as gold, diamonds, tin, tantalum and tungsten has been widely considered as one of the principle causes of the ongoing violence in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). State and non-state armed groups have been accused of using the revenues from the trade in 'conflict minerals' to enrich themselves and to finance their war efforts. In order to break the link between mining and conflict, promote transparency in the Congolese artisanal mining sector, and encourage increased due diligence efforts on the part of international companies buying Congolese minerals, a wide range of initiatives have been undertaken, both at the international and the Congolese national level.