On Tuesday, December 17, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) filed a criminal case against Apple’s European subsidiaries, accusing the tech giant of using “blood minerals” in its supply chain.
The lawsuit claims that Apple has illegally sourced minerals from conflict zones in eastern DRC and neighbouring Rwanda, where the materials are allegedly mined through illicit practices and funnelled into global supply chains that eventually supply tech devices.
The DRC’s legal team, which filed complaints in Paris and Brussels, alleges that Apple’s French and Belgian units employed deceptive commercial practices to mislead consumers into believing that their supply chains were free of conflict minerals.
The lawsuit includes serious charges of war crimes, money laundering, forgery, and deception.
According to the DRC’s lawyers, these actions have caused significant harm, including financing violent militias, contributing to forced child labour, and wreaking environmental damage.
The accusations specifically focus on the use of minerals like cobalt and tin, which are crucial for manufacturing tech products such as smartphones and computer chips.
The DRC claims that the trade in these minerals has fuelled violence and instability, benefiting armed groups in the region and exacerbating human suffering.
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Robert Amsterdam, a Washington-based lawyer representing the DRC, stated that this legal action is just the beginning of a series of judicial steps to hold major corporations like Apple accountable.
He criticized the company for evading responsibility and continuing to profit from African conflict resources. In addition, the lawyers have called on the European Commission to step in and address the issue, urging a broader conversation on supply chain accountability.
Apple, for its part, has denied the allegations, asserting that it carefully monitors its supply chains and has found no evidence of illegally exported minerals from conflict zones.
However, the DRC’s legal team has pointed to various international investigations, including those from the United Nations and Global Witness, to support their claims.
Rwanda, a key player in the region, has dismissed the allegations as unfounded, suggesting that the DRC’s claims are politically motivated, aimed at deflecting attention from tensions between the two nations over the mineral-rich eastern DRC