In a criminal complaint filed on Tuesday, the Democratic Republic of Congo accuses Apple of making use of minerals that originate from illegal mining in the DRC. Primarily, these are the so-called 3T minerals — tin, tantalum, tungsten — and gold.

UN officials have reported out that some mines are operated by armed groups that are reported to be involved in massacres of the civilian population, widespread sexual assault, rampant looting and other crimes.

"The goal is to show consumers that the product they have in their hands is contaminated by international crimes," the Belgian lawyer Christophe Marchand, who prepared the DRC's case against Apple, told DW.

'Misleading business practices'

Specifically, the DRC accuses Apple's French and Belgian subsidiaries of smuggling Congolese raw materials via Rwanda. In addition to "laundering minerals from conflict zones," one of the complaints filed by the lawyers on behalf of the DRC's Justice Ministry accuses Apple of employing "misleading business practices to assure consumers that supply chains are clean."

The aim of the lawsuit is to "confront individuals and companies involved in the chain of extraction, procurement and marketing of natural resources and minerals plundered in the DRC."

Apple issued a lengthy statement in its own defense: "We strongly dispute these claims. We hold our suppliers to the highest standards in the industry. As conflict in the region escalated earlier this year, we notified our suppliers that their smelters and refiners must suspend sourcing tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold from the DRC and Rwanda.

"We took this action because we were concerned it was no longer possible for independent auditors or industry certification mechanisms to perform the due diligence required to meet our high standards."
According to Apple, the company does not purchase its primary minerals directly, but from audited suppliers. Apple's 2023 Conflict Minerals Report states that "no reasonable basis" was found for the company's supply chains to have "directly or indirectly" financed or benefited armed groups in the DRC or an adjoining country.

Questioning Apple's standards

Many NGOs are skeptical about the effectiveness of Apple's control mechanisms. The UN Group of Experts on the DRC has revealed that gold mined in the country is illegally routed through Rwanda and Uganda before being exported.

"It is known that there are refineries in these countries that are supplied with raw materials such as gold from the DRC," said Emmanuel Umpula, executive director of African Natural Resources Watch (AFREWATCH), who denounces the role of Rwanda and Uganda in such mineral trade. "There are reports that clearly prove this."

Although authorities in Rwanda deny that the country is complicit, traders in Bukavu say the gold from South Kivu is often sold to buyers based in Kigali or Cyangugu in Rwanda.

"The illegal extraction of raw materials in the east of the DRC is one of the reasons why the war continues," Umpula said. "It is a predatory system of people who want the conflict to continue in order to be able to plunder the mineral resources." Umpula said traders often took the minerals to countries such as China first in order to cover their tracks. They are then processed there before being delivered to companies such as Apple.

The US tech giant claims to be increasingly using recycled resources. According to Apple, 99% of tungsten and 100% of cobalt for the batteries of the iPhone 16 product series are recycled. The company claims that its policy includes financing institutions that strive to improve the traceability of raw materials. According to Apple, support for regional initiatives that help communities affected by the conflicts has also been expanded.

A skeptical population

Hypocrate Marume, a member of the South Kivu Civil Society Advisory Committee, told DW that he welcomes the lawsuit against Apple. He is optimistic that, in the long term, this will help end human rights violations in DRC.

"This is a relief," Marume said. "That is why we are calling on all civil society organizations to stand behind our lawyers. So that we get access to reparations for the damage that these groups have already caused in collusion with the rebels."

An environmental activist who asked that his name not be used told DW that the blame for such trade does not belong to companies and armed groups alone. He said authorities in the DRC were not fulfilling their duty to protect the population and control the country's resources. "They are the ones who issued the licenses to the companies," he said. "But, if a provincial authority goes to check what is being done on the ground, it can be beaten up by armed men. What country are we living in?"

Umpula remains hopeful that the DRC's lawsuit might force multinational corporations to more closely examine their supply chains. It is now up to the French and Belgian judiciaries to decide whether investigations will be initiated, which could set a precedent.

France and Belgium were chosen because of their stricter on-the-books regulations to encourage corporate accountability. In the United States in March, on the other hand, a federal court rejected an attempt by private plaintiffs to hold Apple, Google, Tesla, Dell and Microsoft accountable for their dependence on child labor in the DRC's cobalt mines.

Marchand, the lawyer who filed the suit, said it had been proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Apple's suppliers source raw materials from conflict areas. "The next step is to prove that Apple knows this," he said.

This article was adapted from German by Philipp Sandner.

Sandrine Blanchard, Kossivi Tiassou, Zanem Nety Zaidi and Pablo Foley Elias contributed to this report.