Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of (a) trends in the level of (i) gold, (ii) coltan and (iii) other conflict minerals being exported from eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and (b) the role of external actors in the export of those minerals.

We are deeply concerned by reports from the UN Group of Experts that M23 and Rwanda are illegally extracting critical minerals from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and are clear that such activity must stop immediately.

We are committed to addressing risks around conflict minerals and protecting human rights. The UK works through several international mechanisms to deliver on this, including encouraging compliance with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Mineral Supply Chains which enables businesses to operate responsibly from conflict-affected areas and the European Partnership for Responsible Minerals which aims to increase the proportion of responsibly sourced minerals in supply chains.