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Article

7 Dec 2012

Author:
Frank Piasecki Poulsen for Guardian Sustainable Business Blog

Children of the Congo who risk their lives to supply our mobile phones

In…Eastern Congo, children are working to extract minerals. The profits from the minerals finance…conflict…[T]here are…tools business can use to…change this…Due diligence must come first…When the electronics industry cannot guarantee that there are no blood minerals in their products, it is because they often do not know who they subcontract to…Transparency is absolutely crucial…These supply chains must be published...There is even an industry body set up to help: the Global e-Sustainability Initiative…[I]n Africa…[v]alue simply disappears out of the continent without benefiting the local people. [T]he power lies with businesses who are willing to pay a fair price for the natural resources they import. [refers to Nokia, Samsung, HTC, Apple]