On Tuesday April 12th, California Senate’s Governmental Organization Committee furthered the bill SB 861 which aims to enhance the State of California’s compliance with section 1502 on conflict minerals of U.S federal law, N0 111-203 also known as the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and the Consumer Protection Act signed into law by President Barack Obama on July 21, 2010. However, this is just one step in a long legislative process. If passed into law this bill will “put California at the forefront of the effort to decrease demand for the minerals” which has been financing the ongoing violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
In a letter of support to Senate Corbett for introducing the bill, AFJN Executive director Fr. Rocco Puopolo underscored the fact that “SB 861 provides much needed support in the effort to not only end the illegal mineral trade, but the violence it has generated for 15 years as documented in the UN Mapping Report as well as UN Special Rapporteur, Roberto Garreton’s report E/CN.4/1999/31, and the UN Security Council’s Group of Experts on the Democratic Republic of the Congo Reports S/2001/357, S/2008/773, S/2009/253 and S/2009/603…
For more on Congo conflict mineral click here