A law established by the US government which require companies to report their use of conflict minerals from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has failed to reduce violence in the country, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) have reported.
While the law had been established to help reduce and put the war to an end, millions of people have been displaced and fighting over minerals, especially gold, has unfortunately increased since the “conflict minerals” law was passed in 2010.
This is according to the GAO’s annual report on the rule which was released on Monday.
In the US, locally listed companies are required by law to submit reports to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to indicate whether their products contain gold, tin, tantalum or tungsten from the DR Congo or any of its nine neighboring countries.
GAO’s reported further indicates that the rule was associated with increased violence, particularly around artisanal gold mining sites.
This may be partly because armed groups are increasingly fighting for control of gold mines, because gold is easier to transport and harder to trace than the other three minerals.
The rules, originally part of the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010, came into effect in 2014 with the aim of breaking the link between illicit mineral trade and violence in the DR Congo where fighting and insecurities has continued to escalate rapidly over the years.
