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最新一期的《国家地理描述了一组让人心痛的照片，这个会在刚果冲突矿物开采时产生一定的影响,这篇文章描述了国际技术贸易的关系以及暴力的延续在刚果民主共和国。带有冲突矿产的开采是麻烦的,因为它可以直接资助武装团体,也引起政府和反政府武装之间的冲突。在刚果东部的侵犯人权,这些冲突的结果,是难以形容的:有报道称,猖獗的性暴力和该地区被称为最危险的地方之一是一个女人。这表明强势的在矿业冲突所产生的盈利能力和侵犯人权这个链接必须打破。

Seem pretty unrelated? Sadly, they are not. Many of your electronics, like your smartphone, have micro-processing chips that require precious metals, such as gold, tin, tantalum, and tungsten. These resources have been termed ‘conflict minerals’, as they lie at the center of mineral resource exploitation and human rights violation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Therefore, your electronics and the precious metals that they require are inextricably linked to the atrocities that take place in the Congo.

The latest issue of National Geographic features heart-wrenching photos depicting the effects of mining for conflict minerals in Congo, with an accompanying article describing the relationship of the international technology trade and the continuation of violence in the DRC. The mining of conflict minerals is troublesome because it can directly fund armed groups and also engenders conflict between the government and rebel forces. The human rights violations in Eastern Congo, as a result of these conflicts, are indescribable: there have been reports of rampant sexual violence and the area has been dubbed one of the most dangerous places to be a woman. This suggests a strong link between the profitability of the mining of conflict minerals and human rights violations, a link that has to be broken.

The issue is not new; there has been previous media coverage of the movement towards conflict-free technologies. As early as 2010, Nicholas Kristof wrote a moving op-ed in the New York Times, lauding the grass-roots movements that protested for a promise for conflict-free technologies. Since 2011, the Enough Project has undertaken an initiative to score technology companies according to their efforts to trace the origin of the minerals used in their products and to proactively implement measures towards clean trade in Congo. In 2012, Intel and HP became industry leaders on this scale; but some still lag behind, such as HTC and Nintendo who have not made any motion towards exploring clean trade.

However, how much do these scores affect the consumer’s choice? There seems to be a disconnect between such rankings and consumer awareness. In 2010, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act was signed into law. Section 1502 of the law requires that American companies audit their supply chains to ensure that the raw materials being used are conflict-free. Additionally, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) established reporting regulations for material sourcing. These regulations include yearly reports to the SEC regarding supply chains. There are several exceptions, such as companies that have no oversight on manufacturing or those that source the materials from a stable region. These ratings and the Act are effective in exposing the issue of conflict materials; however, there needs to be more public awareness.

Early evidence suggests that these measures are having an effect: there has been 本论文由英语论文网提供整理，提供论文代写，英语论文代写，代写论文，代写英语论文，代写留学生论文，代写英文论文，留学生论文代写相关核心关键词搜索。