Human rights activists demanding waiving bloody raw materials.

So much material for the Handybau was a dirty commodity, in the blood sticks, human rights activists argue - and called for the launch of mobile phone Mobile World Congress trade show a waiver of metals from the Congo.

 

Kinshasa / Barcelona - Mobile phone manufacturer, according to the will of human rights materials no longer in the disputed territories of the Democratic Republic of Congo for using their mobile phones. The corporations should review their supply chain, so that with their money, armed conflicts in the African country would be funded, the organization called Global Witness on Monday in a statement to launch the world's largest wireless trade show in Barcelona.

AFP
Congo wars (archive image from November 2008): 14 years duration of the conflict for power and mineral resources

Investigations of the Organization together with United Nations experts have shown that the most important armed groups in eastern African country directly from the sale of some of tin or tantalum funded. These metals are important for the production of mobile phones. The record highs in commodity prices over the past year have fueled the conflicts continue.

The problem has long been known. Particularly semiconductor technology is based on some very rare raw materials. Where those in politically unstable areas, they are rapidly becoming the controversial Good: In the Congo the dispute belongs to the local coltan deposits from which tantalum is obtained, with the engines of since 1996, with only short interruptions raging Congo, respectively Kivukrieges, currently around 5.4 million lives have.

Because the struggle for the exploitation of coltan deposits as one of the main reasons for the duration of conflict is seen, it had since the late nineties, again and again to calls for boycotts. Coltan contains both the expensive tantalum, of the world each year barely 1400 tonnes encouraged, as well as the cheaper niobium, among other things, as tantalum replacements in the high-tech production is used.

In particular, the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, on the border with Rwanda and Uganda, is rich in raw materials. In addition to coltan in the Congo are also a variety of precious metals promoted beyond diamonds, copper, tin and other ores.