Topic: Reducing Violence Associated with Conflict Minerals
Country: Chile
Delegate Name: Kelsey Dorgan
School: Mattawan High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Chile position papers GLIMUN 2011 committees
Conflict minerals are minerals mined in conditions of armed conflict and human rights abuses, most notably in the eastern provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Profits from these minerals are commonly put towards the continued fight of the Second Congo War. These natural resources including; diamonds, cassiterite, gold, coltan, and wolframite, are used for many different purposes, and are in high demand. A large majority of these are mined and sent to many mulitnational electronics companies; they are then used to make devices such as: mobile phones, laptops, and MP3 players. While over ten million people globally are supported directly and indirectly by the diamond industry, the industry has been known for its truly substantial cost. The mining of these minerals have resulted in deadly scramble, people work in harsh conditions and receive little compensation if any for their labor.
There have been many attempts to put an end to this deadly industry including; The Kimbery Process. The Kimberly Process is the process, created by the U.N., that is designed to certify the origin of rough diamonds from sources which are free of conflict funded by diamond production. As a result ninety-nine percent of diamond are now conflict free. However, conflict minerals are still a major issue for many African countries.
Chile itself has a vast resource of minerals that are mined and exported. Chile is the world’s largest producer and exporter of copper. Large scale mining was started in Chile by the United States, and was later turned over to private companies, and is now being controlled by the state, Codelco, in Chile. Chile has never had an issue like the African countries face with the conflict minerals.
Chile has decided to play a role in the prevention of these conflict minerals. Juan Larraín of Chile, Chairman of the Security Council's Angola Sanctions Monitoring Mechanism, told correspondents at a news conference that it is very important for something to be done about the role played by conflict diamonds in prolonging brutal wars in parts of Africa such as Angola and Sierra Leone. Nothing has specifically been done, however, to stop the effects of these minerals and diamonds. They would be very willing to help enforce any new regulations of trade and mining.
