Dodd-Franks Role in the M23 Rebel Surrender

For the last year and a half, the M23 Rebels have been a devastating force in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), committing horrible acts and enslaving the areas citizens. Recently their leader admitted defeat to a government that has not had many victories.  This poses a major opportunity for the government to build momentum to end the violence in the DRC. 

One of the factors that contributed to this victory was the United States Congress passing Section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform, which requires publicly traded companies to report on products in their supply chain that contain conflict minerals.  This has forced companies to perform due diligence to find out if their products contain Tin, Tantalum, Tungsten or Gold extracted violently and illegally from conflict mines.  These inhumane mines are a source of funding for rebel armies and are the sights of slavery and rape.  

Since the legislation was enacted , action has been taken by regional governments and local civil organizations to remove the profitability of these mines. In addition, with the conflict minerals reporting period ending in May of 2014, many multinational companies are removing their business from the conflict mines and only working with conflict free mines.  These steps have made it clear to the rebels that violence is no longer as lucrative as it once was.

The way that these multinational companies are finding out which of the mines are conflict free is by utilizing platforms from companies like Source Intelligence.  Their analytics platform along with their Supplier Engagement Team engages suppliers, collects, verifies and assesses conflict minerals-related data and generates the required forms and reports needed to comply with the SEC's final rule.

To see a personalized demo of what their platform can do for you, click HERE