“Near the area where I grew up, there are mines with vast amounts of tungsten, tantalum, tin, and gold – minerals that make most consumer electronics in the world function,” Sesete writes. “These minerals are part of your daily life. They keep your computer running so you can surf the internet. They save your high score on your Playstation. They make your cell phone vibrate when someone calls you.”
Sesete writes, “While minerals from the Congo have enriched your life, they have often brought violence, rape and instability to my home country. That’s because those armed groups fighting for control of these mineral resources use murder, extortion and mass rape as a deliberate strategy to intimidate and control local populations, which helps them secure control of mines, trading routes and other strategic areas.”
“That’s why I’m asking Apple to make an iPhone made with conflict-free minerals from the Congo by this time next year,” Sesete writes. “Apple is perfectly positioned to be the first company to create a Congo conflict-free phone, using minerals from Congo that further stability and economic development and don’t use slave labor or fund mass atrocities… That’s why I launched a campaign on Change.org asking Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, to commit to making an iPhone with conflict-free minerals from the Congo by Christmas 2013.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Wait, is the deadline “by this time next year” or is it “by Christmas 2013?”
Okay, we checked the petition (which, of course, makes no mention of PlayStation-maker Sony or any other company other than Apple Inc.) and it says “by the 2013 holiday season.”
Regardless of the Apple coattailery, we can’t think of a good reason to condone the use of conflict minerals. If Apple can’t lead the way here, who can?
[Thanks to MacDailyNews readers too numerous to mention individually for the heads up.]
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