Successes: Electronics/Extractives
Electronics companies are acknowledging their responsibility for the mining of metals in developing countries
During a meeting in 2007 of the Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC), an initiative of businesses in the electronics sector, companies referred to SOMO's proposal that they take responsibility for the mining of metals for their products as 'utter madness'. According to the companies, the mining of raw materials does not fall under their responsibility, but under that of their suppliers. Moreover, how could they know what went wrong at the start of the chain? Several years later, after various studies and dialogues, electronics companies understood their influential position and recognised their responsibility.
One year after the EICC meeting, during a Roundtable of makeITfair, the electronics sector acknowledged that it was an influential purchaser of certain controversial metals. This was what companies concluded from the research of SOMO, and was also confirmed by their own research. This led to electronics companies acknowledging their responsibility for metal mining, and to them setting up the EICC-GeSI Raw Materials Working Group. They also organised their own raw materials meeting with NGOs from Africa at the end of 2008. Additionally, SOMO became active in an advisory group, together with several other social organisations.
What is going wrong?
The mining of raw materials in DR Congo is accompanied by gross environmental and human rights infringements. Bloody wars were financed with the proceeds, working conditions in the mines are generally wretched, and there is child labour taking place. Companies such as Apple, Intel, Samsung, Philips, Packard Bell, LG, Dell, and HP need the raw materials to make electronic products from them. Mobile phones, PCs, laptops, digital cameras, games consoles and flatscreen TVs all contain raw materials and minerals such as tantalium, cobalt, copper, gold, platinum, tin, nickel and other earth minerals, including some rare earth minerals.
SOMO investigates these problems in the electronics sector, and alerts companies in the electronics sector to their responsibility. SOMO works together with various other social organisations around the world. SOMO set up the European makeITfair campaign, and started the GoodElectronics local network.
The next step
Starting from the project financed by Stichting Doen, SOMO is now working on the next step: getting the car industry involved. The electronics companies use tantalium, cobalt, copper, gold, platinum, tin, nickel and rare earth metals for their mobile phones, PCs, laptops, digital cameras, games consoles and flatscreen TVs. Car companies are even larger purchasers of these metals, partly because cars contain increasing amounts of electronics. Together, these two sectors have a large market share, and joining forces will certainly contribute to more sustainable mining activities. The initial response of car companies was similar to that of the electronics companies, but since then eight out of ten car companies investigated have responded to SOMO's report. A joint meeting in DR Congo of car companies and electronics companies is planned for early 2011.
What else has been achieved in the electronics sector?
The successful dialogue with companies is not limited to metal mining. In May 2009, a roundtable with the industry, NGOs and trade unions was held in Amsterdam, organised by makeITfair and the international network of social organisations GoodElectronics, and hosted by SOMO.
The purpose of the roundtable was to discuss working together towards improving working conditions in the production chain. The result was an improved relationship between NGOs and trade unions from various countries, including production countries, and drawing up a long list and shortlist of improvement activities. In concrete terms, this has now led to a feasibility study carried out by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) of the UN, together with the International Finance Organisation of the World Bank (IFC). The objective is to start a Better Work Programme in the electronics sector. The development of employee training courses in the area of labour rights was also initiated - by the business community initiatives EICC and GeSI (Global e-Sustainability Initiative).
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