part 2

Enough Project

Enough Project,a Washington, DC-basednot-for-profit, began in 2006 by concerned policymakers and activists seeking to end genocide and crimes against humanity through on-the-ground analyses, dispersal of strategy papers, and briefings on global atrocities in an effort to end such events from occurring.38 Itsmain campaigns dealt with conflictsin the DRC, Darfur, and South Sudan. In 2009, Enough Projectsent out a briefing on conflict minerals and their role in the DRC conflict to major electronic and jewelry manufacturers around the world. It was this letter that arrived on Krzanichs and, subsequently, Niekerks desksand prompted Intel to addressthe issue of conflict mineralsin its supply chain.

Global Witness

Global Witnesss three founders established the not-for-profit in 1993 after identifying a link among natural resources, conflict, and corruption. Its mission was to show how the connection of these three areas perpetuated poverty, created instability, and furthered environmental degradation. Its first campaigns related to tapering funding for the Khmer Rouge and exposing the relationship between blood diamonds and civil war in Angola.Global Witness was a key third-party partnerin spreading the news of conflict mineralsandthe conflict in the DRC to the public.39

United Nations (UN)

The UN was founded in 1945 as an international organization to maintain worldwide peace, develop friendly relations among nations, facilitate cooperation among nations to improve the lives of the underprivileged, and act as a facilitator to help nations achieve these goals.40 It maintained a strong presence in the DRC. The UN helped manage the DRCs first democratic election in 2006.41 With regards to conflict minerals, the organization published authoritative reports about on-the-ground conditions. A 2010 UN Group of Expertsreports said that almost every mineral depositwas controlled by armed groups.42 These reportsserved as credibleinformation in a region where information was often difficult to verify.

United States StateDepartment

The State Department was part of the United States executive department and was in charge of the countrys international relations. The DRC conflict was one of the US State Departments main focuses at the beginning of Barack Obamas first presidential term. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited the DRC on August 11, 2009, and directed the US State Department to develop a holistic strategy on the DRC. At the United Nations Security Council, the United States expanded economic sanctions against the DRC to include those supporting illegal armed groups through the illicit trade of natural resources. The US State Departments objective was to end the DRC conflict. The economic offices within the State Department worked with American companies to support their business interests overseas.

United StatesAgency for International Development (USAID)44

USAID was the US governments main agency engaging in providing disaster assistance to recovering countries, striving toward eradicating poverty, and strengthening democratic institutions.45 In 2014, USAID spent USD $20.4B to support its development goals globally.46 In the DRC, USAID had a USD $12.5 million Responsible Minerals TradeProgram that promotedconflict-free supply chains,civilian control of minerals, protection of vulnerable populations, and enhanced auditingfor minerals from the Great Lakes Region.

Pact was a development NGO that worked to promote healthy lives, decent livelihoods, and sustainable natural resource use in its communities. Foundedin 1971, Pact has a long historyof supporting USAIDprojects around the world. In the DRC, Pact operated as an on-the-ground presence in artisanal mining communities to implement USAID programs, strengthen due diligence mechanisms, and promote peaceful economic growth within its communities. It has also partnered with USAID to teach literacy, financial management, and small business supportto women in artisanal mining communities.

In addition, USAID, Intel, and other stakeholders created the Public-Private Alliance (PPA) to support supply chain solutions through funding and coordination support to organizations already working within the DRC to addressthis problem.48 The success of the PPA led to further USAID involvement in conflict-free minerals programs.

International Conference of the Great Lakes Region(ICGLR)49

Established in 2000 and headquartered in the Republic of Burundi, ICGLR was an intergovernmental organization of 12 African countries in the Great Lakes Region (GLR) that worked on the ground to reduce illegalexploitation of naturalresources from the GLR and protracted armedconflict in the DRC.50 An ICGLR Certification Scheme was in development as of 2015 that would ensure mines were conflict-free and that mineralswere not tamperedwith between the mine and smelters. This was done through the classification of mines as conflict-free, bag-and-tag practices, and a third-party audit system. As of October 2013, there were 55 certified conflict-free mines.

The Conflict-Free Sourcing Initiative51

Industry organizations proved integral in identifying conflict minerals in supply chains. Two industry organizations working toward eliminating the use of conflict materials were the Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC) and the Global E-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI). Founded in 2004, the EICC represented nearly 100 electronics companies seeking to create industry-wide social, ethical, andenvironmental standards.52 GeSI was the collaboration between companies and organizations that provided impartial information, resources, and best practices towardachieving sustainability withinthe information and communication technology sector.

Together, the EICC and GeSI launched the Conflict-Free Sourcing Initiative (CFSI), which created the Conflict-Free Smelter Program (CFSP). CFSP provided an audit system designed for the conflict mineral standards in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the Dodd-Frank Act, a due diligence requirement mandated in the 2010 US financial reform legislation. The audit was used by independent third-party auditors to identify smelters and refiners that had systems in place to ensure conflict-free material sourcing. Companies confidently used this data to inform sourcingchoices. The 2008 CFSI white paper outlined the global supply for minerals coming from the DRC and asserted that EICC and GeSI members could influence social and environmental performance in the mining sector, but that individual companiesneeded to first better understand individual supply chains.

Without business and staff directly in the DRC, Intel reached out to nongovernment organizations (NGOs) in the region to provide firsthand information, analysis, and insight to assist it with identifying its mineral supply chains, establishing smelter audits, and lobbying other industries, governments, and organizations to take part in sourcingconflict-free minerals.

Initial research revealed that supply chain transparency was limited. Niekerk realized transparency required industry-wide effort and involvement from multiple stakeholders. He and his team then convened a meeting of 52 tantalum company representatives at Intels headquarters.55 After that meeting, Intel decided that researching the issue was not enough; it needed to develop supply chain solutions to address conflict minerals for the entire electronics industry to implement. Intels vice president of manufacturing tasked company engineers with leading this industry action.56

GeSIs firstwhite paper led to Intelsdecision to partnerwith it on producing a second whitepaper, in addition to working with RESOLVE. This second paper mapped the supply chain for minerals coming from the DRC. Througha deep engagement, this work identified smeltersas the pinch point in the supplychain, or where the supply chain narrowed to a manageable scope and designing a solution was feasible. Because ofthis discovery, Intel saw an audit system as a possible solution.Identifying smelters as the point for visibility in the supplychain was a pivotal step in developing industry-wide solutions.

Post-publication of the second white paper on conflict minerals, players in the global tin industry collaborated to create a system where minerals were bagged and tagged at the mine stage in an attemptto increase transparency in the minerals supply chain.58 This proved that traceability and due diligencewas possible. The bag and tag model was expandedto both tungstenand tantalum supplychains and was still used as of 2015, alongside auditing systems such as the Conflict-Free Sourcing Initiative (CFSI) to ensure Dodd-Frank and OECD regulation requirements were met.59 Despite the apparent success of this initiative, these tags were surfacing on the black market, resulting in armed groups still profiting from the sale of supposedly conflict-free minerals.