US group sues Apple over DR Congo conflict minerals

Despite the iPhone maker’s denials, a United States-based advocacy group claims that Apple uses minerals that are linked to conflict and human rights violations in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) despite the lawsuit filed in Washington, DC.

International Rights Advocates (IRAdvocates) has previously filed lawsuits against Tesla, Apple, and other tech companies for cobalt sourcing, but US courts dismissed those claims last year.

Due to lack of evidence, French prosecutors also dropped a case brought by the DRC against Apple subsidiaries in December. Belgian authorities are still looking into a related criminal complaint.

In response to the DRC’s legal cases, Apple disputed any wrongdoing and claimed to have instructed its suppliers to stop sourcing products from Rwanda and the DRC.

On the latest complaint, it did not respond to inquiries for comment right away.

In the complaint filed on Tuesday in the District of Columbia, a Washington-based nonprofit that attempts to use legal action to stop rights abuses, IRAdvocates claimed that Apple’s supply chain still includes cobalt, tin, tantalum, and tungsten in relation to child and armed labor as well as armed groups in the DRC and Rwanda.

The lawsuit does not seek class certification or monetary damages, but rather an injunction to stop alleged deceptive marketing and reimbursement of legal costs.

According to the lawsuit, three Chinese smelters, Ningxia Orient, JiuJiang JinXin, and Jiujiang Tanbre, processed coltan that United Nations and Global Witness investigators claimed was smuggled through Rwanda after armed groups seized mines in the eastern DRC and linked the material to Apple’s supply chain.

According to the lawsuit, a University of Nottingham study published in 2025 discovered child and forced labor at sites in the DRC that were connected to Apple suppliers.

Ningxia Orient, JiuJiang JinXin, and Jiujiang Tanbre did not respond to requests for comment right away.

The DRC did not respond to a request for comment immediately because it supplies about 70% of the world’s cobalt and a sizable amount of tin, tantalum, and tungsten used in computers, batteries, and phones. Additionally, Rwanda did not respond to a comment request right away.

Apple has repeatedly disputed audits and its supplier code of conduct, accusing itself of using forced labor or sourcing minerals from conflict. There was “no reasonable basis” to conclude that any smelters or refiners in its supply chain financed armed groups in the DRC or other nearby nations, according to a statement released in December.

According to Congolese authorities, armed groups in the eastern region of the nation finance conflict that has resulted in the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people and the death of thousands of people. The government has tightened regulations on minerals, squeezing supply chains around the world.

Apple claims that devices that recycled 76% of the cobalt in 2024 were recycled, but the IRAdvocates lawsuit claimed that its accounting method permits mixing with ore from conflict-placing ore.