The Sustainability Learning Forum

Conflict minerals: What you need to know about the new disclosure and reporting requirements and how Ernst & Young can help

Ernst & Young

This Studie discusses Section 1502 of the Dodd–Frank Act requiring disclosures about "conflict minerals" emanating from select countries. Section 1502 of the Dodd–Frank Act is intended to make transparent the financial interests that support armed groups in the DRC area. By requiring companies using conflict minerals in their products to disclose the source of such minerals, the law is aimed at dissuading companies from continuing to engage in trade that supports regional conflicts. more[...] login_required

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Fisheries and the Right to Food

Dr. Olivier De Schutter, UN

In the present report, the Special Rapporteur identifies the challenges facing global fisheries and examines how the individuals most vulnerable to negative impacts (the residents of developing coastal and island countries, (specially lowincome food-deficit countries) can be supported to ensure the progressive realization of the right to food, noting that pursuing a human rights approach is critical to achieving sustainable development in the fisheries sector. more[...] login_required

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Flammable Societies. Studies on the Socio-economics of Oil and Gas

Dr John-Andrew McNeish, CMI
Owen Logan, University of Aberdeen

The impact of the oil and gas industry – paradoxically seen both as a blessing and a curse on socio-economic development – is a question at the heart of the comparative studies in this volume stretching from Northern Europe to the Caucasus, the Gulf of Guinea to Latin America. more[...]

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Rethinking Resource Conflict

Dr John-Andrew McNeish, CMI

Resource conflict is one of several destabilizing phenomena commonly cited as defining many of the extractive economies of the global south. In the post-Cold War in which stability has become a key concern of international governance and investment it has also been an issue that has encouraged a proliferation of scholarly and policy interest. In these studies and policy discussions a large number of terms are now in use in an attempt to account for the complicated state of affairs faced by resource-rich countries in the global south: intractable conflicts, new wars, resource wars, complex political emergencies, conflict trap, resource securitization, petro-violence, blood diamonds. more[...]

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African leaders urged to invest in jobs, infrastructure and protecting development gains

African Development Bank (AfDB)

n unprecedented gathering of experts in Kigali, present and former African Heads of State urged business, community and political leaders to help turn the continent’s impressive growth into economic opportunities for ordinary citizens. more[...]

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Taking Conflict Out of Consumer Gadgets: Company Rankings on Conflict Minerals 2012

Sasha Lezhnev, Enough Project

Leading electronics companies are making progress in eliminating conflict minerals from their supply chains, but still cannot label their products as being conflict free. Since Enough’s last corporate rankings report on conflict minerals in December 2010, a majority of leading consumer electronics companies have moved ahead in addressing conflict minerals in their supply chains—spurred by the conflict minerals provision in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and growing consumer activism, particularly on college campuses. Most firms have improved their scores from the 2010 rankings, but some laggards still remain. more[...] login_required

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Taking Conflict Out of Consumer Gadgets - Company Rankings on Conflict Minerals 2012

Enough Project

Leading electronics companies are making progress in eliminating conflict minerals from their supply chains, but still cannot label their products as being conflict free. Since Enough’s last corporate rankings report on conflict Minerals in December 2010, a majority of leading consumer electronics companies have moved ahead in addressing conflict minerals in their supply chains—spurred by the conflict minerals provision in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and growing consumer activism, particularly on college Campuses. Most firms have improved their scores from the 2010 rankings, but some laggards still remain. more[...] login_required

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Mining and Human Rights Violations in Argentina

Many communities have mobilized in opposition to prevailing mining models in Argentina this year. The use of road blocks to obstruct exportation of goods has been one popular tactic. However, these demonstrations have often been suppressed by police force. On several occasions the residents and activists have been beaten, abused and detained by the police with the approval (tacit or not) of provincial and national authorities. The development of these mining projects has already interfered with people's fundamental right to water and their constitutional right to a healthy environment. There are growing concerns that individual political freedoms are also in danger. more[...] login_required

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Conflict Minerals and SEC Disclosure Regulation

Prof. Celia Taylor, University of Denver Sturm College of Law

Mention the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank” or the “Act”),[1] and most people think of legislation aimed at “fundamental reform of the financial system”[2] focused on regulation of Wall Street practices and complex financial products. But tucked within the voluminous text of the Act (which consists of 2,300 pages and stipulates the passage of 387 rules by 20 different agencies[3]) is a provision having nothing to do with these issues or anything remotely related to them. Instead the “conflict minerals” provision of the Act requires companies that are subject to the reporting requirement of the federal securities laws to disclose whether they manufacture products using so-called “conflict minerals” sourced from the Democratic Republic of Congo (“DRC”) or contiguous countries.[4] more[...]

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Blood on your mobile phone? Capturing the gains for artisanal miners, poor workers and women

Dr. Dev Nathan, Institute for Human Development

Capturing the Gains research into the global production of mobile phones traces the connections between armed factions, poverty and violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and mobile phone users worldwide. The critical link is coltan, or columbite tantalite. It is the raw material for tantalum, an essential mineral in the manufacture of mobile phones, computers and other electronic equipment. more[...] login_required

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Gold is now the Most Lucrative Conflict Mineral from Eastern Congo

Enough Project

Gold smuggled from eastern Congo’s war zone is now the most lucrative conflict mineral and is ending up at jewelry stores and banks, according to a new investigative report by the Enough Project. The study found that following a 65 percent drop in profits from the conflict minerals tin, tungsten, and tantalum, armed groups have increasingly turned to smuggling the fourth conflict mineral, gold, to generate income that finances mass atrocities in eastern Congo. The armed groups use poorly paid miners, who work in dangerous conditions, including thousands of children as young as eight years old. The study maps out how conflict gold makes its way from eastern Congo to consumers worldwide who purchase it in the form of wedding rings and watches, and investment banks that buy gold bars. more[...] login_required

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From Child Miner to Jewelry Store

Enough Project

This is the first of two papers on the illegal conflict-gold trade from eastern Congo that is fueling one of the most violent conflicts in the world. This paper tracks the transnational trade from mines in eastern Congo to consumers. The second paper will map a way to resolve this problem by setting out recommendations to formalize the trade, cut down conflict-gold smuggling, and create jobs to provide living wages to Congolese miners. more[...] login_required

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Global Witness condemns API lawsuit to strike down Dodd-Frank oil, gas and mining transparency provision

Global Witness is outraged by a lawsuit filed by the American Petroleum Institute (API), the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and others to gut Section 1504, an important anti-corruption provision of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. (1) By seeking to nullify this provision, API, whose members include BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil and Shell, and other industry groups are demonstrating that they have something to hide. Any claims by API that they support transparency efforts are preposterous when they are not only trying to weaken the rules but to strike Section 1504 in its entirety. more[...] login_required

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Social dialogue needed to prevent further violence in SA mines, says ILO

As an inquiry begins into the fatal August shooting of dozens of striking miners in South Africa, the International Labour Organization (ILO) has called for high-level social dialogue in order to prevent further violence and unrest. more[...] login_required

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Mom-friendly workplaces. But how friendly?

Elaine Cohen, Beyond Business Ltd

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