A United States advocacy group has filed a new lawsuit against technology giant Apple, claiming the company continues to source minerals linked to child labour, forced labour and armed conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda despite repeated denials.
International Rights Advocates, a Washington-based nonprofit organisation, filed the 59-page complaint on Tuesday in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.
Fresh allegations against tech giant
The lawsuit alleges that Apple’s supply chain for cobalt, tin, tantalum and tungsten – commonly known as the 3T minerals plus cobalt – remains tainted by ore mined under brutal conditions in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and smuggled through Rwanda.
Unlike previous cases, the suit does not seek monetary damages or class-action status. It instead asks the court to rule that Apple’s ethical-sourcing claims violate District of Columbia consumer-protection laws, to issue an injunction stopping the alleged deceptive marketing and to order the company to pay legal costs.
“Apple tells consumers its products are clean while quietly buying minerals that fund warlords and exploit children,” said Terrence Collingsworth, executive director of International Rights Advocates and lead counsel in the case. “The evidence shows they know exactly where this material comes from and choose to keep it in their supply chain anyway.”
Previous legal battles
This is not the first time the organisation has targeted Apple. A similar class-action lawsuit against Apple, Tesla and other firms over Congolese cobalt was dismissed by a federal judge in California last year.
In Europe, French prosecutors closed a 2022 criminal investigation launched by the Democratic Republic of the Congo government itself, citing lack of evidence. A related complaint filed in Belgium remains under investigation.
Apple did not respond to requests for comment on the latest filing. The company has previously insisted it operates one of the strictest supplier codes of conduct in the industry and carries out regular third-party audits.
Smelters in the spotlight
The new complaint cites United Nations experts and investigative reports that trace coltan – the ore used to produce tantalum – from mines seized by armed groups in North Kivu province to three Chinese smelters: Ningxia Orient Tantalum Industry, JiuJiang JinXin Nonferrous Metals and Jiujiang Tanbre Smelter.
All three facilities appear on Apple’s own 2024 list of approved tantalum processors.
A 2025 study by the University of Nottingham in Britain, referenced in the lawsuit, found forced labour and children as young as 10 working at sites ultimately connected to these smelters.
The three Chinese companies did not respond to requests for comment.
Decades of conflict
Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo has suffered armed conflict for three decades. Rebel groups and rogue army units battle for control of mineral-rich areas, using profits from illegal mining to fund weapons and fighters.
The United Nations says the violence has killed thousands and displaced more than seven million people in recent years.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo supplies roughly 70% of the world’s cobalt – critical for lithium-ion batteries in every iPhone – as well as large volumes of the three conflict minerals regulated under United States and European Union due-diligence laws.
Kinshasa has repeatedly accused Rwanda of supporting the M23 rebel group that has captured swathes of territory since 2022, charges that Kigali denies.
Recycled cobalt claims questioned
Apple has increasingly highlighted its use of recycled cobalt, stating in 2024 that 76% of the cobalt in its new devices came from recycled sources.
International Rights Advocates argues that the company’s accounting methods still allow newly mined ore from conflict zones to be mixed in before the recycled percentage is calculated.
Neither the Democratic Republic of the Congo nor Rwanda responded to requests for comment on the lawsuit.
Apple shares on Wall Street closed up 0.8% on Wednesday, showing little reaction to the legal action.
The case adds to growing pressure on global technology companies to clean up supply chains that reach into some of the world’s most unstable regions.
Campaigners say that after Apple removed all Democratic Republic of the Congo cobalt smelters from its approved list in 2023, rerouting the same ore through Rwanda has become a common workaround – a practice the new lawsuit aims to challenge in court.
