Essay on Three Recomendations for the Democratic Republic of Congo

Formerly known as Zaire, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DROC) is located in the center of Africa bordered by nine different countries and one territory. (Lerner, 10) The bordering countries are Central African Republic and Sudan at the northern boarder, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Burundi on the eastern boarder, Zambia and Angola directly South of DROC and Congo on the Western boarder.

The article describes well the scientific elements so almost anybody could understand what the article is trying to convey, however a prior knowledge of the metals tungsten, tin, tantalum and gold; and their role in technology would be beneficial. The knowledge of the metals worth would also be helpful to understand the conflict. Also a knowledge of the electronics involved in smartphones would help with an understanding of the importance of the 3TG metals. The article introduces the knowledge that it is possible for the production of the 3TG minerals without fuelling the conflict in the Congo. It is possible for the minerals to be vetted to know if they had been involved in conflict however the companies involved are unwilling to be involved in the process. The article expresses a number of significant relevant influences, one in particular being political influences. The issue surrounding the mining of conflict minerals not only influences the government of the Democratic

Men, women, and children are all coerced, regularly at gunpoint, to mine coltan. Both the novel Blue Gold by Elizabeth Stewart and the CBC News article, “Coltan: A New Blood Mineral” shine light on the influence coltan mining has on people residing in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the western consumers callowness to it.

Over the course of human history, many believe that the “Congo Free State”, which lasted from the 1880s to the early 1900s, was one of the worst colonial states in the age of Imperialism and was one of the worst humanitarian disasters over time. Brutal methods of collecting rubber, which led to the deaths of countless Africans along with Europeans, as well as a lack of concern from the Belgian government aside from the King, combined to create the most potent example of the evils of colonialism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century’s. The Congo colonial experience, first as the Congo Free State then later as Belgian Congo, was harmful to that region of Africa both then and now because of the lack of Belgian and International

Few places are more treacherous than the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in Africa. For two decades, near-steady warfare has claimed millions of lives in the area.

The Democratic Republic of Congo has always been an extremely poor country. They rank as the poorest country in the world but have a high number of natural resources (“World Without Genocide”). The Congo has an unemployment rate of around ninety-five percent, more than half of the Congo people do not have access to clean water, and their mortality rates among children is highest of any country in world (“Congo Voice”). Their economic situation made it even harder for the

Despite its immense potential, very little of this wealth has benefited the Congolese people. Instead, all of its riches have attracted adventurers, warlords, corrupt governments, and unscrupulous corporations, and divided the population into competing groups. This is the main source of the conflict that rids the majority of eastern DRC (“The world factbook,” 2017).

Women played an important role in the campaign for public support for reform of King Leopold II’s Congo Free State and the forced labor that took place there. Both in the Congo and in Europe women influenced the perception and reaction to the État Indépendant du Congo and the Congolese people. The treatment of Congolese women by the Force Publique and white colonial officials such as Léon Rom inspired both sympathy from European missionaries and rebellion from the Congolese. While in Europe and America reformers like Englishwomen Alice Harris and Mary Morel campaigned for reform in the Congo Free State. Through newspaper articles, organizations and photographs they swayed many influential members of English and American society — church and government officials, businessmen, and authors — to their side. The Congo Reform Association(CRA) also had two women on its executive council. Through their treatment at the hands of the regime, involvement in public campaigns against Leopold, and a sex scandal, women in the both the Congo and in Europe encouraged opposition to King Leopold II’s draconian rule of the État Indépendant du Congo.

In the past, the Europeans established a harsh and unfair system in the Congo. Today however, Congolese groups in power perpetuate similar unjust behavior. These groups are corrupt, and though the people in power (both the rebel groups and the government itself) are the Congolese,

Little things in life can impact the world in many ways whether it's good or bad. In this case right now the Democratic Republic of the Congo is facing a big conflict with these minerals. The type of minerals people are fighting for are mined from the floor tantalum, tungsten, tin, and gold are the one that they're looking for. This is a big deal because the mineral trade has been linked to other crimes that rebel groups who commit mass atrocities, including rape and murder. It may not seem like a big deal but numbers don't lie , but you'll be surprised what they use these minerals for. They use these minerals to make phones,laptops(which I'm using right now so ironic right), light bulbs , a pair of earrings you name it. We are preventing

Between 1885 and 1908, Belgium’s Leopold II ruled Congo, a region in central Africa, as his personal colony, exploiting the resources and inhabitants for his own gain. Leopold allowed and encouraged Europeans and other Westerners to enter Congo and set up companies whose primary purpose was to gather rubber, which was abundant but difficult to get to in the Congo, using the Congolese as the laborers for the Europeans. Rubber gathering in Congo brutally exploited the inhabitants of the Congo, while at the same time robbed Congo of wealth, as the rubber was “sold” to the Europeans at prices far below what the rubber was actually worth. Only when others, specifically the British and the Americans, revealed the horrible conditions of the

The Eastern Congo is considered a weak state because of the corruption, poverty and war. The Eastern Congo has a large amount of natural resources which should be an asset to the country, but war and rebel groups are feuding over these resources. The corruption and feud over these resources weakens that state. The Eastern Congo has a large amount of farmland that is not utilized and could be used to feed most of Africa, but conflict and control deter the people from utilizing the farmland[1]. The argument over these resources is ultimately affecting the civilians. Many of these disputes have existed for decades. I was astonished to hear that there have been 5.4 million deaths since 1994 in Eastern Congo, most of which are civilians and less

With the emergence of technology, conflict minerals have become a growing and pressing issue in the 21st Century. Conflict minerals are those that fuel civil wars, specifically in Central Africa. There are very few regulations placed on conflict minerals and they are an integral part of most of the supply chains for technology companies. In 2011 the United States of America issued the Dodd-Frank Act, which regulates the use of conflict minerals to a certain degree. The problem, however, lies in the effectiveness and the real world consequences of the Dodd-Frank Act, thus alternative solutions must be explored in order to regulate the current and future use of conflict minerals.

Due to these Blood Diamonds, Sierra Leone has faced many social and economic costs. One diamond is capable of causing a civil war. That’s all, a fight over diamond control took many lives. During this civil war, rebels came and committed disgusting crimes including murder,

The DRC is also one of the lowest ranking countries in terms of governance indicators percentile scores: voice and accountability (11.8), Control of corruption scores (6.7), rule of law (2.8) and political stability and absence of violence (4.9). The higher the score and the nearer it is to 100, the better the country performance. Governance in the DRC affects inequality in several ways, first the high rate of corruption resulting in the looting of public funds the government’s ability to provide public services such as education, health and social protection. There is exclusion in decision making since voice and accountability index is low, hence public decisions made favour only a few people which worsens the level of inequality. The increased level of violence particularly by rebels results in destruction of infrastructure, which also hinders provision of public services in vast areas, thereby increasing inequality.