A United States-based advocacy group only last November filed a lawsuit in Washington, DC, accusing the multinational technology giant Apple Inc. of using minerals linked to armed conflict and human rights abuses in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda despite the iPhone maker’s denials.
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is currently establishing a centralised one-stop mining investment agency to streamline Western capital and counter Chinese market dominance. Foreign mining operators faced July 31, 2026 deadline to comply with the DRC 2018 Mining Code, requiring a 10% equity transfer to Congolese nationals (5% to employees and 5% to other citizens).
The University of Nottingham recent study found forced and child labor at DRC mining sites linked to Apple suppliers. Apple has been sued hundreds of times. As a massive global company, Apple faces constant litigation.
These legal actions range from major anti-trust case and massive class-action settlements to hundreds of individual patent infringement claims. It has faced major antitrust challenges from the U.S. and the European Union, alongside high-profile private suits from companies like Epic Games and Spotify regarding App Store rules and market dominance. Apple has been defendant of a class action lawsuit for the use of young children in the DRC’S cobalt-mining industry.
For years DRC has been fighting a damaging resource war in its eastern provinces where armed groups and foreign actors exploit critical “blood minerals’’ to fund continuous self-serving violence. The Eastern DRC holds vast deposits of coltan (processed into tantalum for electronics), cobalt, copper, tin (cassiterite), tungsten (wolframite), and gold.
These minerals are vital for smartphones, electric vehicles, aerospace, and green energy technology. Blood= minerals refersto these valuable minerals mined by foreign entities in war zones in DRC where profits from them are used to fund armed conflict, violence and human rights abuses. The term mirrors‘’blood-diamonds,’’ reflecting how the trade of these natural resources comes at heavy human cost. The most common blood minerals are often referred to as 3TG which stands fortin, tungsten, tantalum and gold.
In its efforts to check the scramble for its minerals by armed groups andcontrol its resources, DR Congo in December 2024filed criminal complaints against Apple’s European subsidiaries in France and Belgium, accusing thetech giant of using conflict minerals in its supply chain.The country claims that Apple buys contraband raw materials, specifically 3T minerals (tin, tantalum, tungsten, and gold) mined illegally in the conflict-racked eastern region of the DRC and Rwanda. The DRC government says these conflict minerals were then smuggled through Rwanda, then into Rwanda and integrated into the global supply chains before ending up intheirthe company’stech devices.
They are designated conflict minerals because their extraction and trade have historically been used to finance armed groups, violence, and human rights abuses, most notably in the eastern region of the DRC and surrounding countries. United Nations experts and human rights groups say some of the artisanal mines are run by armed groups involved in massacres of civilians, mass rapes, looting, and other crimes, making Apple complicit through its supply chain.
The legal complaints filed in Paris and Brussels encompass allegations of covering up war crimes, money laundering, handling stolen goods, forgery, and fraud. The lawsuit allegesthat local entities like Apple France, Apple Retail France, and Apple Retail Belgium used misleading commercial practices to convince buyers that their product supply chains were ethically clean.
Lawyers representing the Congolese state reportedly asked the Apple CEO, Tim Cook, along with Apple subsidiaries in France, about the potential inclusion of pillaged minerals in the company’s supply chain but did not receive substantive responses.
Lawyers representing the Congolese state said that armed groups running artisanal mines commitsevere human rights abuses, making Apple complicit through its supply chain. The legal team reportedly asked the Apple CEO, Tim Cook, along with Apple subsidiaries in France, about the potential inclusion of pillaged minerals in the company’s supply chain but did not receive substantive responses.
Apple, however, ‘’strongly disputes’’ the allegations, maintaining that it is deeply committed to responsible mineral sourcing and audits its supply chain.The DRC’s Washington-based lawyer, Robert Armsterdam, described the case as constituting a ‘’first salvo’’ of judicial actions.
Said he: ‘’ Color Apple red, not green. It is a trillion-dollar company that must be assumedtoknow theconsequences of its actions. Enough with denials of accountability and hiding the false narrative of supply chain defenses’’.
The DRC’s Paris-based lawyer, William Bourdon, said the criminal complaints constitute ‘’a first step towards making one of the biggest players in tech accountable for its policy of endless enrichment at the cost of the most serious of crimes staining African supply chains.’’
Its Brussels lawyer, Christopher Marchand, added that ‘’these complaints filed against Apple are a matter of great public interest at a time European countries, consumers, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are increasing their scrutiny of international supply chains.’’
Computer chips and tech devices require a wide array of minerals and specialty metals.The lawyers said that the scale and duration of the alleged activities of Apple have caused ‘’unfathomable harm and suffering’’ for civilians, fueling violence, and conflict by financing militias and terrorist groups, and contributing to forced child labor and environmental devastation. They also cited investigations by the United Nations, the U.S. State Department and international NGOs such as Global Witness to document the scale of the problem.
Affirming that they have written to the European Commission President, Ursula Von der Leyen, to inform her of the criminal complaints, the lawyers said they have asked for a dialogue on the European Union’s role in working towards accountability and an end to armed violence in sub-Saharan Africa‘s mineral supply chains.
Alex Kopp, senior campaigner at the Global Witness NGO’s transition minerals team, reportedly said that the Rwanda-backed armed group, M23, for example, is believed to control Colton production in the Rubaya area of DRC. This region supplies about 15 percent of the world’s tantalum.DRC has accused Rwanda of using M23 to control the resource-rich eastern DRC.
But Rwandadismissed the allegations as unfounded, saying that “this is just the latest blow by the DRC government, which is constantly seeking to divert attention to Rwanda with false accusations.”
The Rwanda government spokes-person, Yolande Makolo, told AFP news agency that DRC’s mineral-rich east has been racked by violence since the 1990s, with tensions worsening since a renewed offensive in late 2021 of Rwandan-backed M23 rebels in the DRC province of North Kivu.
Beyondallegedly using blood minerals in its tech devices, the multinational technology corporation since the 1980s to the present has been plaintiff or defendant in civil actions in the United States and other countries.
*Danmole Mohammed writes from Kabba Kano