de Vogel, C

Radley, Benjamin

English

EUR Research Repository

9/10/2014 In Eastern Congo, economic colonialism in the guise of ethical consumption? - The Washington Posthttp://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/monkey-cage/wp/2014/09/10/in-eastern-congo-economic-colonialism-in-the-guise-of-ethical-consumption/ 1/7Crusher for Mining&Quarrybreak-day.com/Crusher_MachinesCone/Jaw/Impact/Mobile Crushers for crushing stone&rock.40-1000t/hAdMonkey CageIn Eastern Congo, economiccolonialism in the guise of ethicalconsumption?         By Christoph Vogel and Ben Radley  September 10The following is a guest post by Christoph Vogel andBen Radley. Vogel is an Independent Analyst and aPhD candidate at the University of Zurich.  Radley is aDirector for Heartland Alliance and a PhD student atthe International Institute of Social Studies. When we think of the Congo today, we may think ofbloody resource wars where women are being raped byarmed groups to gain access to and control of thecountry’s minerals. If we do so, it’s because of the workof numerous NGOs, advocacy organizations, andactivists such as the Enough Project or the “no blood inmy mobile” campaign, who have been campaigning forseveral years to reduce conflict in the eastern Congo by“cleaning up” the region’s mineral trade. The struggleagainst so-called “conflict minerals” has literallyThe lush and rolling hills of Masisi territory, North Kivu province,Democratic Republic of Congo. (Pete Muller/Prime for The WashingtonPost)Advertisement9/10/2014 In Eastern Congo, economic colonialism in the guise of ethical consumption? - The Washington Posthttp://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/monkey-cage/wp/2014/09/10/in-eastern-congo-economic-colonialism-in-the-guise-of-ethical-consumption/ 2/7against so-called “conflict minerals” has literallybecome, borrowing Autesserre’s words, a lopsided“dominant narrative” spanning policy discourses andpractical engagement in the sector.The most significant policy result of this work to date,Section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Act, was passed by theCongress and signed into law in July 2010. It requirescompanies registered on the U.S. stock market to reporton an annual basis whether their minerals have beensourced from the eastern DRC or neighboringcountries, and thus, potentially financing conflict. Thishas in turn led to recent announcements by electronicsgiants including Apple and Intel that more of theirproducts will be “conflict-free” in the future. In themeantime, a coalition of around 70 Congolese leadersand international experts argue that, in the Congoitself, the movement risks contributing to, rather thanalleviating, the very conflicts it sets out to address.While not calling to keep transparency and regulationat the lowest level, their open letter urges governments,companies, and other stakeholders to carefully rethinkand increase their engagement on the issue.More than four years after the signing of the Dodd-Frank Act, only a small fraction of the hundreds ofmining sites in the eastern DRC have been reached bypractical measures emanating from Dodd-Franklegislation, such as supply chain traceability or mineralexport certification. As of now, four areas (Nyabibwe,Rubaya, Lemera, and Nzibira) have been introducedinto traceability schemes allowing for legal trade in tin,tantalum, and tungsten (3T) minerals. While theyinclude around 30 mining sites, the overwhelmingmajority of mining sites (far more than 1000 across theprovinces of North and South Kivu alone) has notbecome part of the bagging-and-tagging system iTSCi,put in place by the international tin industry body ITRI.The result is a de facto embargo targeting the lion’sThe Most PopularAll Over9/10/2014 In Eastern Congo, economic colonialism in the guise of ethical consumption? - The Washington Posthttp://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/monkey-cage/wp/2014/09/10/in-eastern-congo-economic-colonialism-in-the-guise-of-ethical-consumption/ 3/7The result is a de facto embargo targeting the lion’sshare of Congolese mining communities, while at thesame time violence and the presence of armed groupshave not significantly decreased in the region.As other traceability schemes have not yet becomeoperational, iTSCi (and its partner projects such asMotorola’s “Solutions for Hope” initiative which seemsto be engaging a little more constructively on theground) represents the only legal way for Congolese tosell “conflict-free” minerals to international markets.Hence, a large part of the local mining economyremains “beyond the pale, forced into either illegality orcollapse as certain international buyers have respondedto the legislation by going ‘Congo-free.’” Our own fieldwork in 2013 and 2014 as well as academic research byothers in eastern Congo has shown that, while only asmall number of mining sites is de-facto controlled byarmed actors, all players involved in the mineral supplychain are at risk of being captured – that is, taken over– by enduring networks of fraud and violentexploitation that want to retain a chance of selling theirminerals. In a recent report, Global Witness partlyconfirms these tendencies with a particular focus onmilitary involvement.Worse still, as our recent field observations reveal, theeconomic situation in the four “clean areas” remainsdire. In some sites prices have stagnated while othershave experienced a loss of market competitiveness asthe iTSCi system creates new costs and newbureaucratic requirements. Although ITRI usuallymaintains no more than a pseudo-presence in the sites– they deploy field staff that rarely if at all visit theactual mining sites – it deeply impacts the localeconomy. In response to ITRI’s requirements,institutions change, creating a cash cow for both stateand non-state actors involved in a myriad of additional,semi-formal taxation systems that go mostly9/10/2014 In Eastern Congo, economic colonialism in the guise of ethical consumption? - The Washington Posthttp://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/monkey-cage/wp/2014/09/10/in-eastern-congo-economic-colonialism-in-the-guise-of-ethical-consumption/ 4/7semi-formal taxation systems that go mostlyunregulated and uncontrolled on the ground. Then,beyond maintaining its access to mineral supplies,ITRI’s employees are mostly busy with levyingenormous fees from its local partners and preventingthe scheme’s competitors in the “traceability market”from establishing alternative systems.All this has had a number of damaging consequences.Large numbers of Congolese miners have lost theirjobs, with some joining armed groups as a way to earn aquick buck in the total absence of alternativeemployment opportunities. At the same time theUnited Nations Group of Experts found that theregion’s black market in minerals has beenstrengthened (and the Goma-based mining police isrecently reporting heavy increases in trans-borderfraud attempts), playing into the hands of the verymafia and rebel networks the campaign was attemptingto starve of mineral revenue in the first place.As if this was not devastating enough, the fluidity ofarmed movements in this area makes the validation ofthe “clean sites” very difficult. With militias (or theircivilian-clothed friends and family) present in andaround the mines, the validity of the “conflict-free”designation is often fluid over time, particularly giventhe delay between when a mine site is visited, validated,included into a traceability scheme, and later audited –all that taking months, if not years in some cases. Suchdelays are further complicated by an institutionalcacophony of interests of international and local actorssupposed to jointly validate sites. The additionalindustry audits, on their side, blatantly neglect localrealities – among the sites included into the scheme sofar, many raise serious concerns about the credibility ofthe whole traceability effort. In certain cases, thepresence of armed actors has not prevented ITRI from9/10/2014 In Eastern Congo, economic colonialism in the guise of ethical consumption? - The Washington Posthttp://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/monkey-cage/wp/2014/09/10/in-eastern-congo-economic-colonialism-in-the-guise-of-ethical-consumption/ 5/7including a site for the sake of quick business.Hailed by numerous international stakeholders, thefirst years of implementing systems to create a marketfor “conflict-free” minerals clearly show the limits ofsuch an approach. While it is already difficult as such –an argument often used by lazy and profit-orientedinternational industries – the implementation isfurther hampered by a few other factors: The sameindustry proposing to seek a clean market forCongolese minerals appears to be completelydisinterested in local realities, including minerals’actual “cleanliness,” as long as the market continues tofunction. Moreover, almost no corporate stakeholder –despite their nicely publicised corporate socialresponsibility policies – has visibly engaged in easternCongo to help Congolese actors comply withregulations, improve labor security, or increase decentlivelihoods. Most conflict minerals advocates have yetto address these shortcomings.ITRI’s bagging-and-tagging scheme has –notwithstanding the costs it burdens onto localproducers – neither developed a mechanism to preventuntagged minerals from entering the circuit, nor comeup with a supply chain mechanism that fulfils the duediligence standards proposed by the OECD and UN.Instead, the industry-led traceability scheme currentlyserves more as an artificial price-control mechanismand a monopolization tool: the levy ITRI demands foreach ton of tin is directly subtracted from the officialselling price (which corresponds to the London MetalExchange in the case of tin and to bilaterally negotiatedprices for the non-listed tantalum). The net effect isthat Congolese miners must pay the international tinindustry for the right to sell their minerals with a tagthat implies – but does not necessarily achieve –conflict-free status. As argued in a forthcoming Social9/10/2014 In Eastern Congo, economic colonialism in the guise of ethical consumption? - The Washington Posthttp://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/monkey-cage/wp/2014/09/10/in-eastern-congo-economic-colonialism-in-the-guise-of-ethical-consumption/ 6/7conflict-free status. As argued in a forthcoming SocialScience Research Council research paper, traceabilityalso triggered a monopolization of the market atvarious levels of the supply chain: local producers arebeholden to buyer monopolies within a closed pipeline.The choice they face is to sell at the artificially reduced,buyer-controlled price or to go “illegal,” meaningtrespassing the iTSCi scheme.Moreover, it remains unclear to what extent theCongolese mining industry is impacted in terms ofproduction and exportation. ITRI does not publish anyconcrete statistics on DRC mineral production levels.Confidential records confirm that, for a time, ITRI eventried refusing to share its data with the Congolesegovernment. This surprisingly secretive policy runsdiametrically counter to any attempts to increasetransparency and accountability as repeatedlyrecommended.With all this, the “conflict minerals” approach appearsto arrive at a critical juncture, facing two possiblefutures. If the required improvements recommended inthe letter and brought forward by other researchers andanalysts are undertaken, a reliable and viable systemensuring more ethical products are produced andconsumed and leading to improvements in the dailylives of the Congolese is possible. This includes first andforemost a finer understanding of Congo’s mineralsector on the one hand as well as of underlyingproblems creating violence and instability in theconcerned region on the other. Alternatively, themovement risks descending into “green-washing” of theworst kind, whereby multinationals and others improvetheir public image, while in the Congo – the country onwhich this image is founded – no solutions are found,just new problems created.

In Eastern Congo, Economic Colonialism in the Guise of Ethical Consumption?

https://pure.eur.nl/files/47567821/Metis_202465.pdf

In Eastern Congo, Economic Colonialism in the Guise of Ethical Consumption?

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