The vast mineral reserves of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have always been its curse: The presence of diamonds, gold, tungsten, copper, uranium, tin and coltan in the East (South and North Kivus) and in the South (Katanga) has caused long-lasting wars and conflicts. Fighting since 1998 has thought to have killed an estimated 5.4 million people, despite the continued presence of the world's largest United Nations peacekeeping operation, the MONUSCO (until 2010: MONUC).
Coltan is a mineral that is mainly used for the production of smartphones, laptops, digital cameras and similar technologies, and Congo possesses the largest part of the world's total resources in coltan (65 to 80% of the world's coltan reserves). It has been widely documented that the production of coltan is 'fuelling' the war in the DRC. Armed groups in the DRC are funded by the region's natural resources. According to human rights organizations, Congelese ore generate about 225 million $ US every year to the militias of the region.
But there are too many powers at stake behind the extraction and commercialization of coltan - which is mainly exported by Rwanda, whose soil doesn't actually offer any coltan. Yes, a great deal of coltan is mined illegally (mostly by young boys) and smuggled over the country's eastern borders by militias from neighbor countries such as Uganda, Burundi, and Rwanda. This is why the conflict in the Kivus remain largely unnoticed, as if getting cheap minerals was much more important that human life. And it IS damaging human life. But also wild life through the destruction of one of the world's most endangered rainforests. As if animals and people were a disturbance to the militias that would like to exploit the natural resources without being stopped by the population or by the few rangers protecting natural parks.
Recently, rapes with extreme violence have become a common weapon of war in this region. Militias are dehumanizing the area by their altogether dehumanized behaviors. Acts of pure barbarism occur daily in the Kivus: women and girls are being raped, mutilated, cut, and terrorized. There have been 200,000 recorded cases of sexual violence against women and girls, but a new study states that more than 400,000 women and girls are raped in the DRC annually. The aims is to literally exterminate the population there. They even dare assaulting young girls aged 3 or 4. Likewise, many child soldiers are very often sexually abused.
The gynecologist Dr. Denis Mukwege created a maternity in Bukavu (South Kivu) in 1999, but more than allowing women to give birth safely, he has been forced to become "the one who repares women". He daily performs surgery on destroyed vaginas, when the women/girls have not died from their wounds. He is the witness of the horror of war in the region. As a pastor, he also tries to heal the devastated souls - sometimes in vain. In 2012, four armed men tried to assassinate Dr. Mukwege who has been interfering in their activities, but he returned to Bukavu in January 2013 to go on helping the women in the Eastern part of the DRC. He won a number of awards (UN Human Rights Prize 2008, Olof Palme Prize 2009, African of the Year 2009, Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur...), but his struggle for life is not over, yet. If you want to support his hospital in Bukavu, visit the website of the King Baudouin Foundation.
What can we do concretely?
As a consumer, we can demand from the technology producers to justify the origin of their coltan and to prove that this does not profit to armed groups in the DRC. Interested German-speaking people can sign missio's petition online.
One can also support the establishment of new international laws for the extraction of natural ores and for a clean commerce of products using natural ores such as coltan.
As a citizen, you can help disseminating the reality of this region and raise awareness about the barbarism taking place in silent for the sake of cheap technologies.
Coltan is a mineral that is mainly used for the production of smartphones, laptops, digital cameras and similar technologies, and Congo possesses the largest part of the world's total resources in coltan (65 to 80% of the world's coltan reserves). It has been widely documented that the production of coltan is 'fuelling' the war in the DRC. Armed groups in the DRC are funded by the region's natural resources. According to human rights organizations, Congelese ore generate about 225 million $ US every year to the militias of the region.
But there are too many powers at stake behind the extraction and commercialization of coltan - which is mainly exported by Rwanda, whose soil doesn't actually offer any coltan. Yes, a great deal of coltan is mined illegally (mostly by young boys) and smuggled over the country's eastern borders by militias from neighbor countries such as Uganda, Burundi, and Rwanda. This is why the conflict in the Kivus remain largely unnoticed, as if getting cheap minerals was much more important that human life. And it IS damaging human life. But also wild life through the destruction of one of the world's most endangered rainforests. As if animals and people were a disturbance to the militias that would like to exploit the natural resources without being stopped by the population or by the few rangers protecting natural parks.
Recently, rapes with extreme violence have become a common weapon of war in this region. Militias are dehumanizing the area by their altogether dehumanized behaviors. Acts of pure barbarism occur daily in the Kivus: women and girls are being raped, mutilated, cut, and terrorized. There have been 200,000 recorded cases of sexual violence against women and girls, but a new study states that more than 400,000 women and girls are raped in the DRC annually. The aims is to literally exterminate the population there. They even dare assaulting young girls aged 3 or 4. Likewise, many child soldiers are very often sexually abused.
The gynecologist Dr. Denis Mukwege created a maternity in Bukavu (South Kivu) in 1999, but more than allowing women to give birth safely, he has been forced to become "the one who repares women". He daily performs surgery on destroyed vaginas, when the women/girls have not died from their wounds. He is the witness of the horror of war in the region. As a pastor, he also tries to heal the devastated souls - sometimes in vain. In 2012, four armed men tried to assassinate Dr. Mukwege who has been interfering in their activities, but he returned to Bukavu in January 2013 to go on helping the women in the Eastern part of the DRC. He won a number of awards (UN Human Rights Prize 2008, Olof Palme Prize 2009, African of the Year 2009, Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur...), but his struggle for life is not over, yet. If you want to support his hospital in Bukavu, visit the website of the King Baudouin Foundation.
What can we do concretely?
As a consumer, we can demand from the technology producers to justify the origin of their coltan and to prove that this does not profit to armed groups in the DRC. Interested German-speaking people can sign missio's petition online.
One can also support the establishment of new international laws for the extraction of natural ores and for a clean commerce of products using natural ores such as coltan.
As a citizen, you can help disseminating the reality of this region and raise awareness about the barbarism taking place in silent for the sake of cheap technologies.