Apple publishes 'conflict-zone suppliers' crackdown report

Apple has reportedly started to publicize which of its suppliers might be sourcing materials from conflict zones in its latest Supplier Responsibility Report.

Electronic firms, like Apple, have been pressured by human rights groups to use their influence and force suppliers to change their sourcing.

According to the BBC, 'conflict minerals', as they are known, are mined in areas of fighting or human rights abuses, such as the Democratic Republic of Congo and most electronic devices contain either gold, tantalum, tin or tungsten, whose mining is often controlled by violent militias who may profit greatly from the activity.

Apple said that it had confirmed in January 2014 that all active, tantalum smelters in their supply chain were verified as conflict-free by third party auditors and they were pushing their suppliers of tin, tungsten and gold to use verified sources.

The report said that the first published list detailed 104 suppliers that were unverified for compliance with ethical guidelines, while 59 were compliant.

Apple's senior vice president of operations Jeff Williams had earlier said that the company would not use smelters it had identified as conflict-free as that would do nothing to affect the workers on the ground.

Last month, Intel announced that it would no longer use conflict minerals in its microprocessors, the report added.