December 31, 2010
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission:
I am a self-educated researcher into the atrocities and human rights abuses in Africa particularly middle-Africa. As such I am familiar with the issue of Conflict Minerals and the aftermath of the pursuit of those minerals to the people of Africa. What I recently discovered, though, was that the byproducts of these same minerals end up in cell-phones like mine
I have read which electronics companies have expressed an interest into a solution regarding the use of conflict minerals, though overall the strides made have been small to none at all. At the end of the day, the purchase of conflict-minerals and the byproducts of those minerals are responsible for gross atrocities on the innocent people of central Africa mass rape of hundreds of thousands of girls and women in Congo, the displacement of literally Millions of innocent people from homes they may never be able to return to, the kidnapping and recruitment of children to be used as child soliders and sex slaves by the LRA, the murder of hundreds of thousands of men and elderly people...all for the greed of acquiring minerals to be transported to outlying African nations, which are then sold on the international open market for cell phones and laptop components.
It is my hope as a consumer that our government, this administration in particular, will take the lead in the effort to campaign for the people of Africa, that it will pass legislation that will end the use of conflict-minerals in our country and that it will promote the sole use of conflict-free supplies in our products. Most importantly, I hold out hope that the Obama administration will become the world leader to this social consciousness for change and will show the rest of the world that the United States will do whatever it takes to promote a conflict-free life for our world citizens in Africa. Please pass this and even stronger legistration that promotes the sole use of certified conflict-free electronics in the future.
Thank you from a consumer and conscious world citizen.
Debbie
Los Gatos, CA