Date and Time
Wednesday June 18, 2014
8:00 am-9:00 am
Location
Webinar
Topics
#Conflict Minerals, #Human Rights
The extraction of tin, tantalum, tungsten, and gold (3TG) from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and wider African Great Lakes Region is dominated by artisanal and small-scale mining. Artisanal and small-scale mining is labor-intensive and has limited capital, mechanization, or technology but is estimated to provide more than a sixth of global mineral output.
In recent years, increased international attention on the role that these materials can play in financing armed conflict has spurred new corporate strategies and activities around responsible sourcing and sustainable production of 3TG. Holistic corporate engagement on so-called conflict minerals must also address “non-conflict” concerns related to artisanal and small-scale mining, including pervasive child labor.
This type of mining directly involves 20-30 million people and supports the livelihoods for many times that number. Artisanal and small-scale mining occurs in some of the most remote areas in the world, which have limited infrastructure and opportunities for other formal economic activities. Therefore, it can connect rural populations to the broader global economy, presenting the opportunity to contribute to the creation of a more inclusive economy.
Join BSR for a discussion with Pact and Boeing on the importance of corporate engagement in addressing child labor in artisanal and small-scale mining, including findings from BSR’s most recent report on these issues. The webinar will also highlight a new BSR-Pact collaborative initiative that will offer companies the opportunity to engage on reducing the use of child labor in the mining of 3TG in the DRC.
Speakers
- Herbert Lust, Director Strategy Integration, Global Corporate Citizenship, Boeing
- Karen Hayes, Director, Mines to Markets, Pact
-
France Bourgouin, Former Manager, BSR
As part of the Local Sustainable Performance team, France supports BSR’s industry-wide consulting services for energy and mining sectors in EMEA. During the past 12 years, France has been conducting field research and consulting on multinational corporations in a development context.
Prior to joining BSR, she was a project researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies in Copenhagen. Through her research, she provided mineral governance and advice about CSR, human rights, and institutional and regulatory reform to companies, governments, and communities throughout Southern and Eastern Africa. France also conducted extensive research in the region on policy liberalisation in extractive industries, relations between multinational companies and artisanal mines, socio-economic impacts of mining development, cross-sector collaboration, and local procurement. She is fluent in English and French.
France has a Ph.D. in Political Anthropology from Lund University. She also has an M.A. in Geography from University of the Witwatersrand and a B.A. in Economics and Geography from McGill University.
