Conflict minerals are often mined in brutal conditions of forced labour, debt bondage and even child slavery in the Congo. Slave-mined minerals are in many of our everyday electronic items: they generate hundreds of millions of dollars and fuel the world's deadliest ongoing conflict.
Huge progress is being made to rid our household electronics of modern slavery: Intel recently announced that all its new microprocessors will be free of conflict minerals and CEO Brian Kraznich has urged other companies to follow suit.[1]
While Intel and many other electronics companies are making moves to ensure they're no longer part of the violent cycle of conflict in the Congo, Nintendo -- the world's largest manufacturer of video game consoles -- lags behind. We simply don't know what steps the electronics giant is taking to ensure its products are free of the violence, murder and modern slavery associated with these minerals and its conflict minerals policy has been dismissed by experts as a "meaningless piece of paper." [2]
It's time for Nintendo to stop playing games and step up its efforts to help end modern slavery.
Call on Nintendo to take concrete steps to ensure its products are slavery-free by:
- Only using conflict-free smelters and carrying out audits or spot checks to confirm this is the case.
- Making the name and number of its smelters public.
- Committing to making a conflict mineral-free product in the next year.
Sources:
[1] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25636001
[2] http://www.enoughproject.org/blogs/game-over-nintendo-bends-activists%E2%80%99-pressure-conflict-minerals
Dear Charlie Scibetta, Senior Director of Corporate Communications, Nintendo Co. Ltd,
I was disappointed to learn that, despite companies such as Intel recently committing to make conflict-free microprocessors, Nintendo continues to ignore the global call to ensure its products are slavery-free.
Conflict minerals are often mined in conditions of forced labour, debt bondage and child slavery. These minerals generate hundreds of millions of dollars every year for armed groups, fuelling the world’s deadliest ongoing conflict.
[Your comments here]
Please take steps to ensure Nintendo is no longer part of this violent cycle by:
- Only using conflict-free smelters and carrying out audits or spot checks to confirm this is the case.
- Making the name and number of its smelters public.
- Committing to making a conflict mineral-free product in the next year.
Sincerely,
[Your name here]
