[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 101 (Thursday, June 26, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4140-S4141]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CONGO
Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, I rise today to talk about what this
Congress did to help one of the world's most forgotten yet most deadly
conflicts--that in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Former Kansas
Senator Sam Brownback invited me to eastern Congo almost 10 years ago
and later I returned with Senator Sherrod Brown in 2010.
The Democratic Republic of Congo is a nation of breathtaking natural
beauty, rich in a vast array of resources. It is also a badly broken
country, weak in governance and dominated by relentless poverty,
warlords, pillaging soldiers, and horrific, almost incomprehensible,
violence. A barbaric civil war spanning more than a decade in Congo is
the most lethal conflict since World War II.
Eastern Congo is known as the ``Rape Capital of the World.'' In fact,
according to the United Nations, regional war and rape leaves an
estimated 1,000 or more women assaulted every day in the Congo. That is
12 percent of all Congolese women.
I will try to describe the city of Goma in eastern Congo to those who
haven't been there. It is almost impossible. Imagine one of the poorest
places on Earth, where people are literally starving, where they are
facing the scourge of disease, where malaria and AIDS cut short the
lives of far too many. Imagine a nearby active volcano. Then
superimpose over that the misfortune of ongoing war and unrest that has
ravaged the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo for years
and resulted in millions of deaths and unspeakable sexual violence.
Armed militias, some left over from the genocide in Rwanda, continue to
operate in the region, terrorizing civilians and inflicting horrific
brutality.
The United Nations has a 20,000-member peacekeeping force in the area
with an impressive new mandate to bring stability, but it can only do
so much. The area is still very fragile, awash in weapons, warlords,
and competing regional interests. It is also rich in valuable minerals
that are found in our every-day electronics, jewelry, and other
products.
It has been said that the Congo war contains ``wars within wars''--
and that is true. But fueling much of the violence is a bloody contest
for control of these vast mineral resources.
Most people probably don't realize that many of the products we use
and wear every day, from automobiles to our cell phones and even our
wedding rings, may use one of these minerals--and that there is a
possibility it was mined using forced labor from an area of great
violence.
We can not begin to solve the problems of eastern Congo without
tackling a key source of funding for armed groups, which is the mining
of conflict minerals, including tin, tantalum, tungsten, and gold. We
as a nation and as consumers, as well as industries that use these
minerals, have a responsibility to ensure that our economic activity
does not support such violence.
NGOs like the Enough Project have led the way in informing the
American people about what goes into the jewelry, electronics, and
manufacturing equipment they wear and use.
That is why I joined with Senators Brownback and Feingold and
Congressman Jim McDermott to support legislation that would help stem
the flow of proceeds from illegally mined minerals into those
perpetuating unspeakable violence. That law passed almost 4 years ago.
Its requirement is simple: If a company registered in the United States
uses any of a small list of key minerals from the Congo (tin, tantalum,
tungsten, and gold)--minerals known to be involved in the conflict
areas--then such usage must be reported in that company's SEC
disclosure. Companies can also include information showing steps taken
to ensure the minerals are legitimately mined and sourced and that by
responsibly sourcing these minerals, they are not contributing to the
region's violence.
It is not a ban on using the materials or a requirement to source
responsibly. Instead it was a reasonable step--a reporting
requirement--to shed some light on the issue and to encourage companies
using these minerals to source them responsibly.
It took some time for the Securities and Exchange Commission to
thoughtfully craft the rule for this law. And disappointingly, as is
increasingly too often the case with the rulemaking process, some tried
to gut the law in court.
But the law was upheld repeatedly in court, moved forward as enacted
by Congress. The first filing reports were submitted to the SEC early
this month. This is a milestone.
A look at these filings shows us that some companies have been
working for several years already to use their collective financial
incentives to foster clean and legitimate supply chains out of eastern
Congo. And I want to commend a few of these companies for taking such
an early and responsible lead on this issue, including Apple, Intel,
and electronics components manufacturer Kemet, which has a branch of
its business in my home State of Illinois.
For example, Intel has created its first conflict-free computer chip,
while still using responsibly sourced minerals from Congo, and took its
reporting a step further by voluntarily submitting it to third-party
audits. Under the Conflict-Free Smelter program, the number of
international smelters operating free from conflict minerals continues
to grow, with almost 90 smelters--40 percent of the world's total
smelters--being certified as conflict-free and over 150 companies and
industry associations participating in the program. After being
refined, the origins of the material become difficult to track, as
these smelters purchase materials from a variety of sources. The
smelter or refiner therefore represents a critical point in the supply
chain where we can look for assurances about whether or not the
material has been purchased from conflict-free sources. Apple has
confirmed that its entire tantalum supply chain is conflict free.
Another leader in the electronics industry has been Motorola
Solutions, headquartered in Schaumberg, IL. Motorola Solutions emerged
early as a company dedicated to cleaning up its supply chain, and to do
so, it helped establish Solutions for Hope, dedicated to developing a
``closed-pipe'' supply chain. In the Rubaya region of the North Kivu
province in the DRC, it has done just that. Tantalum mines in Rubaya
were directly funding the leader of the vicious M23 rebel group, Bosco
Ntaganda. Through persistent effort, diligent monitoring and the
banding together of other likeminded corporations, those 17 mines are
now certified conflict-free, and most importantly, M23 has laid down
its arms and Bosco Ntaganda stands before the International Criminal
Court to face charges for the atrocities he and his comrades committed.
According to the Enough Project's recent report on the impact of this
legislation, armed groups and the Congolese army are no longer present
at two-thirds of tin, tantalum and tungsten mines surveyed in eastern
Congo. And as you may have seen recently, Dutch smart phone
manufacturer Fairphone is making its products with conflict-free raw
materials. Fairphone has already sold 35,000 units and is hoping to
expand production as more consumers embrace conflict-free electronics.
Fairphone and others are leading by example, and proving that conflict-
free is not only possible, but it can be profitable too.
This was the whole point of the legislation. And consumers will
finally have an option to invest in and purchase from those companies
that are making a good-faith effort to source from this war stricken
area responsibly.
I thank my many colleagues here in the Congress on both sides of the
aisle
[[Page S4141]]
who helped make this bill a reality and the many responsible companies
that are taking steps to help ensure their sourcing of minerals does
not contribute to the horrific violence in mineral-rich Congo. The
Congolese people have suffered entirely too much, and I sincerely
believe that these efforts will be part of the long-term solution to
the quest for stability and peace in their country.
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