Unique opportunity to tackling the conflict minerals trade

A group of 126 civil society organistions call for tighter regulation of conflict minerals in an open letter to the Dutch Presidency of the Council of the European Union, and the 28 member states.

The Dutch government, acting as President of the Council of the EU, has worked hard to secure an agreement over the past few months. But there is still work to be done to find an agreement that will effectively tackle the conflict and human rights risks in the mineral supply chains. This week the European institution will gather again.

The letter from civil society makes a simple request: that the EU requires European companies to act with due care when buying minerals or products that may be linked to conflict or human rights abuses. At a minimum, this means a regulation that covers companies that import into the EU minerals in their raw form as well as companies that import products containing these minerals. Only then the regulation will be in line with existing international standards to which EU Member States signed-up years ago.