IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jlawss/v10y2021i2p50-d576787.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

An Unintended Legacy: The External Policy Responses of the USA and European Union to Conflict Minerals in Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Michael Addaney

    (Department of Planning and Sustainability, School of Geosciences, University of Energy and Natural Resources, Sunyani, Ghana
    Centre for Public Management and Governance, School of Public Management, Governance and Public Policy, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg 2193, South Africa)

  • Emma Charlene Lubaale

    (Faculty of Law, Rhodes University, Grahamstown 6139, South Africa)

Abstract

Competition over environmental and natural resources characteristically lies at the heart of armed conflicts in Africa. It is also common knowledge that some companies dealing in products such as laptops, smart phones, and jewellery import minerals from conflict-affected areas, thereby indirectly fuelling conflicts in these areas or undermining human rights. For a continent endowed with natural resources including minerals, Africa has suffered the brunt of this predicament. This state of affairs has lent impetus to the adoption of several regulations geared towards curbing irresponsible business practices by companies relying on such minerals, the goal being, amongst others, to guarantee the protection of human rights. In May 2017, the European Union adopted regulations intended to stop the importation of conflict minerals in Europe, debatably making giant strides in the direction of the protection of human rights. These regulations are to come into force in 2021. However, can these regulations advance the much-desired goal of the protection of human rights in Africa on issues pertaining to conflict minerals? By analyzing the 2017 EU regulations in light of previous regulations of a similar nature, the paper concludes that the said regulations constitute a weak normative framework and could in fact have unintended consequences on the fundamental rights of civilians in natural resource-rich conflict areas of Africa.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael Addaney & Emma Charlene Lubaale, 2021. "An Unintended Legacy: The External Policy Responses of the USA and European Union to Conflict Minerals in Africa," Laws, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-17, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlawss:v:10:y:2021:i:2:p:50-:d:576787
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-471X/10/2/50/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-471X/10/2/50/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nik Stoop & Marijke Verpoorten & Peter van der Windt, 2018. "More Legislation, More Violence? The Impact of Dodd-Frank in the DRC," SALDRU Working Papers 231, Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit, University of Cape Town.
    2. Dominic P. Parker & Bryan Vadheim, 2017. "Resource Cursed or Policy Cursed? US Regulation of Conflict Minerals and Violence in the Congo," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 4(1), pages 1-49.
    3. Laura E. Seay, 2012. "What’s Wrong with Dodd-Frank 1502? Conflict Minerals, Civilian Livelihoods, and the Unintended Consequences of Western Advocacy- Working Paper 284," Working Papers 284, Center for Global Development.
    4. Dominic P. Parker & Jeremy D. Foltz & David Elsea, 2016. "Unintended consequences of economic sanctions for human rights: Conflict minerals and infant mortality in the Democratic Republic of the Congo," WIDER Working Paper Series 124, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    5. Lena Partzsch, 2018. "The new EU Conflict Minerals Regulation: Normative Power in International Relations?," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 9(4), pages 479-488, November.
    6. Jeffrey R. Bloem, 2023. "Good Intentions Gone Bad? The Dodd-Frank Act and Conflict in Africa’s Great Lakes Region," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 71(2), pages 621-666.
    7. J. Andrew Grant, 2012. "The Kimberley Process at Ten: Reflections on a Decade of Efforts to End the Trade in Conflict Diamonds," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Roman Grynberg & Letsema Mbayi (ed.), The Global Diamond Industry, chapter 4, pages 119-142, Palgrave Macmillan.
    8. Nicolas Berman & Mathieu Couttenier, 2015. "External Shocks, Internal Shots: The Geography of Civil Conflicts," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 97(4), pages 758-776, October.
    9. Dominic P. Parker & Jeremy D. Foltz & David Elsea, 2016. "Unintended Consequences of Sanctions for Human Rights: Conflict Minerals and Infant Mortality," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 59(4), pages 731-774.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. David Bilungule Bakamana, 2021. "Culture of war, instability and sustained contemporary conflicts across African states," Bussecon Review of Social Sciences (2687-2285), Bussecon International Academy, vol. 3(1), pages 28-35, January.
    2. Kohnert, Dirk, 2023. "Moral Money in Sub-Saharan Africa ? Ensuring ethics to drive sustainable investment," EconStor Preprints 300926, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    3. Kohnert, Dirk, 2023. "La monnaie morale en Afrique subsaharienne ? Garantir l'éthique pour favoriser l'investissement durable," EconStor Preprints 300927, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Stoop, Nik & Verpoorten, Marijke & van der Windt, Peter, 2019. "Artisanal or industrial conflict minerals? Evidence from Eastern Congo," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 660-674.
    2. HIGASHIDA Keisaku & MURAKAMI Shinsuke & SHINKUMA Takayoshi, 2022. "Effect of Trade Restrictive Provisions with Due-diligence on Bilateral Trade Flows: The case of the US regulation on conflict minerals," Discussion papers 22054, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    3. Jeffrey R. Bloem, 2019. "Good Intentions Gone Bad? The Dodd-Frank Act and Conflict in Africa’s Great Lakes Region," HiCN Working Papers 300, Households in Conflict Network.
    4. Jeffrey R. Bloem, 2023. "Good Intentions Gone Bad? The Dodd-Frank Act and Conflict in Africa’s Great Lakes Region," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 71(2), pages 621-666.
    5. Schütte, Philip, 2019. "International mineral trade on the background of due diligence regulation: A case study of tantalum and tin supply chains from East and Central Africa," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 674-689.
    6. Gudrun Franken & Philip Schütte, 2022. "Current trends in addressing environmental and social risks in mining and mineral supply chains by regulatory and voluntary approaches," Mineral Economics, Springer;Raw Materials Group (RMG);Luleå University of Technology, vol. 35(3), pages 653-671, December.
    7. James Cust, 2017. "The role of governance and international norms in managing natural resources," WIDER Working Paper Series 203, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    8. Christensen, Hans B., 2022. "Is corporate transparency the solution to political failure on our greatest problems? A discussion of Darendeli, Fiechter, Hitz, and Lehmann (2022)," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(2).
    9. Bazillier, Remi & Girard, Victoire, 2020. "The gold digger and the machine. Evidence on the distributive effect of the artisanal and industrial gold rushes in Burkina Faso," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    10. James Cust, 2017. "The role of governance and international norms in managing natural resources," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2017-203, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    11. Hanai, Kazuyo, 2021. "Conflict minerals regulation and mechanism changes in the DR Congo," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    12. Maleke Fourati & Victoire Girard & Jeremy Laurent-Lucchetti, 2021. "Sexual violence as a weapon of war," NOVAFRICA Working Paper Series wp2103, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Nova School of Business and Economics, NOVAFRICA.
    13. Julika Herzberg & Oliver Lorz, 2020. "Sourcing from conflict regions: Policies to improve transparency in international supply chains," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(2), pages 395-407, May.
    14. Jerg Gutmann & Matthias Neuenkirch & Florian Neumeier, 2021. "Sanctioned to Death? The Impact of Economic Sanctions on Life Expectancy and its Gender Gap," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 57(1), pages 139-162, January.
    15. Dominic P. Parker & Jeremy D. Foltz & David Elsea, 2016. "Unintended consequences of economic sanctions for human rights: Conflict minerals and infant mortality in the Democratic Republic of the Congo," WIDER Working Paper Series 124, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    16. Ainsley Elbra, 2020. "Fool’s Gold: Business Power and the Evolution of the Conflict‐free Gold Standard," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 11(3), pages 336-346, May.
    17. Anouk Rigterink, 2018. "Diamonds: Rebel's and Farmer's best friend," OxCarre Working Papers 211, Oxford Centre for the Analysis of Resource Rich Economies, University of Oxford.
    18. Thiemo Fetzer & Samuel Marden, 2017. "Take What You Can: Property Rights, Contestability and Conflict," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 0(601), pages 757-783, May.
    19. Ciccone, Antonio, 2018. "International Commodity Prices and Civil War Outbreak: New Evidence for Sub-Saharan Africa and Beyond," CEPR Discussion Papers 12625, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    20. Francesco Amodio & Leonardo Baccini & Michele Di Maio, 2021. "Security, Trade, and Political Violence," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 19(1), pages 1-37.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jlawss:v:10:y:2021:i:2:p:50-:d:576787. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.