We knew the 'blood diamonds', 'blood diamonds', and campaigns against companies that extract diamonds from areas where human rights are not respected and/or the proceeds from diamonds are used to finance bloody civil wars. But there are other similar cases in the metals – such as tantalum, tin and tungsten. For example, armed militias in western Congo generate income by smuggling these three ores through Rwanda.
There are NGOs that monitor these bloody aspects: the Enough Project – linked to the Center for America Progress – fights crimes against humanity and has pointed the finger at Nintendo for not doing enough in controlling the supply chain of these metals that it uses in its products. The Enough Project asks for a certification of the origin of these raw materials, to ascertain that they do not come from areas affected by conflict. In addition to Nintendo, HTC, Sharp, Nikon and Canon have also been singled out as defaulters.
Concerned about the possible reverberation (boycott of their products), Intel, Motorola, Apple and Hewlett Packard have taken steps forward – acknowledges the Enough Project – in the direction of a certification (moreover also required by the Dodd-Franks Law) , despite the fact that the SEC has not yet passed the guidelines and the fine regulation necessary to enforce the Dodds-Frank provisions.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/news/hardware/Intel-Apple-HP-lead-fight-against-conflict-minerals/articleshow/15513344.cms
