'Call for Change': Mobile Phone Companies must stop using illegally mined Coltan

"Nearly 3 million people have died in Congo in a four-year war over Coltan, a heat-resistant mineral ore widely used in mobile phones, laptops and playstations. Eighty percent of the world's Coltan reserves are in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The mountainous jungle area where the Coltan is mined is the battleground of what has been grimly dubbed "Africa's first World War", pitting Congolese forces against those of six neighbouring countries and numerous armed factions. The victims are mostly civilians. Starvation and disease have killed hundreds of thousands and the fighting has displaced 2 million people from their homes. Often dismissed as an ethnic war, the conflict is really over natural resources sought by foreign corporations" (S.Rogerson, 2003)

Not excluding major phone companies N***a, S**y E*****n, Si****s, who do not make public their supply chain. These companies have systematically turned a blind eye to the source materials and fail to adequately compensate those who lost homes, risked life to mine the metal ore we use everyday in our mobiles. Many have died and many more may continue to die unless we take action and call for Change.