Blutige Handys - Blood in the Mobile

Phones are financing war in the Democratic Republic of Congo. We love our cell phones, and the available selection of different models has never been broader. But the production of mobile phones has a dark, bloody side. Most of minerals used in the production of cell phones come from mines in the eastern DR Congo. The western world buys these so-called “conflict minerals” and thereby finances a civil war that, according to human rights organisations, has been the bloodiest conflict since World War II. During the last 15 years, the conflict has cost the lives of more than 5 million people and 300,000 women have been raped. The war will continue as long as armed groups can finance their warfare by selling minerals. If you ask the phone companies where their suppliers get their minerals from, none of them can guarantee that they aren’t buying conflict minerals from the Congo. The documentary “Blood in the Mobile” shows the connection between our phones and the civil war in the Congo. Director Frank Poulsen travels to DR Congo to see the illegal mine industry with his own eyes. He gets access to Congo’s largest tin mine, which is controlled by different armed groups. Children work there for days on end in narrow mine tunnels digging out the minerals that end up in our phones. After visiting the mine, Frank Poulsen struggles to get to talk to Nokia, the world’s largest mobile-phone supplier. Frank Poulsen wants them to guarantee that they are not buying conflict minerals and thereby financing the war in the Congo. Nokia is unable give him that guarantee. “Blood in the Mobile” is a project about our responsibility for the conflict in the Congo – and the question of corporate social responsibility. The film contains descriptions of violence.