There is a link between armed conflicts and 3TG (cassiterite (tin), wolframite (tungsten), coltan (tantalum), and gold ore) mining activities and supply chain in the Great Lakes region of Africa. The exploitation of natural resources and the militarization of mining sites has led to the well-documented and significant human rights abuses and widespread illegal activities. Current regional and global regulatory systems have tried to devise a transparent, sustainable and responsible (conflict-free) trading environment of 3TG. However, ineffective institutions do not enforce them and foreign companies and the informal local Artisanal and Small-scale Mining (ASM) often do not adhere.
3TG extraction, refinement and transportation exacerbates conflict, disrupts the economy and perpetuates human rights violations inclusive of slave-like conditions, abundant sexual violence, and forced labor of people, in particular children. It has also increased the strategic and geopolitical competition with Western powers on the continent.
To help NATO Strategic South Hub better understand the context, Leander-J, on behalf of Three Stones International, performed comprehensive pre-research and then organized a panel of nine experts, practitioners, and advocates from seven African counties to discuss Conflict Minerals and the possible role of NATO to address the challenges.
This diverse panel discussed the trends and developments spanning:
· Linkages to human rights violations
· Funding of local and regional armed groups and terrorist networks
· Distortion of local economies and the growth of the informal sector
· Role of NATO
Analyzing the 1.5 hrs discussion as well inputs from a chat forum from an additional 30 participants overlaid with the research, Leander-J submitted a report called: Conflict Minerals: tendencies and developments.
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