The West’s Campaign against Conflict Minerals Is Doing More Harm Than Good

Apr 20, 2016 | Ben Radly
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In recent years Western advocacy groups have achieved unprecedented success in mobilizing Europeans and North Americans behind a “conflict minerals” campaign to help end the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

It is important not to conflate the work of all DRC-focused advocacy organizations under the same umbrella. But central to the success of the “conflict minerals” campaign was the emergence of a dominant narrative that placed Western consumers at the heart of the solution.