Pact Calls for Mineral Traceability Program for Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo

(All PPA Signatories after the signing of the MoU)

WASHINGTON, D.C. | NOVEMBER 15, 2011 – In a Washington, D.C. ceremony on November 15, Pact launched a Public-Private Alliance for a Responsible Minerals Trade (PPA) with the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and a coalition of businesses from the electronics industry and civil-society organizations. The PPA is an innovative public-private partnership to build a conflict-free, productive, and responsible mining and minerals trade in the DRC and the Great Lakes Region (GLR).

The PPA combines the financial and technical resources of public, private, and nongovernmental partners to support its goal to break the linkages between the illicit minerals trade and violence and human rights abuses in the GLR. It will assist with the development of a transparent chain of custody system, such as the ITRI Tin and Tantalum Supply Chain Initiative (iTSCi), which will allow businesses to identify minerals from mines that have been audited and are verifiably conflict free.

Many millions of people in the GLR are involved in and depend on mining and minerals trade for their livelihoods; a de facto or formal ban on sourcing minerals would result in lost revenues, unemployment, smuggling, fraud, and displacement. It is, therefore, vitally important to establish a conflict-free supply chain which has the confidence of the ‘end users’ in the electronics and other industries and supports the DRC in developing its resources responsibly.

“The areas where the resources needed for building traceability into the minerals supply chain are lacking are the places that are suffering, and hurting the very people lawmakers sought to protect and assist,” said Assheton Stewart Carter, Pact Senior Vice President for Global Engagement. “Artisanal and small-scale mining provides a livelihood for many people and we must have a program in place to ensure it can continue responsibly.”

Pact’s Assheton Stewart Carter joined the State Department’s Robert Hormats, Under Secretary of State for Economic, Business, and Agricultural Affairs, Maria Otero, Under Secretary for Global Affairs, and Donald Yamamoto, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, as well as Charles Chileya, Deputy Executive Secretary, International Conference on the Great Lakes Region, and Richard Valin, Chief Procurement Officer, Motorola, in leading the signing of the PPA.

Pact’s Mines to Markets (M2M) Initiative rests on the premise that a responsible extractive industry can improve livelihoods for poor people and be a driver of development in marginalized communities. The M2M Initiative is working in the Great Lakes region to transform the minerals trade into a market-driven, locally and internationally supported, credible sector that respects human rights and environmental values, operates legally, and benefits people and communities as well as legitimate businesses.

For further information, contact Lisa Swann, Senior Director of Communications, Pact, lswann@pactworld.org, 202 684-3633.

About Pact:
Pact enables systematic solutions that allow those who are poor and marginalized to earn a dignified living, be healthy, and take part in the benefits nature provides. Pact accomplishes this by strengthening local capacity, forging effective governance systems and transforming markets into a force for development. Pact is a 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization based in Washington, DC. Visit us on the web at www.pactworld.org.