Congo-Kinshasa: Children and the Coltan Wars in Eastern Congo

5 November 2024
African Arguments
analysis By Pauline Omboko Shongo

With at least 40,000 coerced into mining coltan, and several global tech brands directly implicated in funding conflict, pressure needs to bear on stopping the war as an imperative for the children to go to school.

For over two decades, eastern Congo has been experiencing war that has claimed the lives of millions of Congolese. This war is in the Kivu area, where about 60% of the world reserve of coltan is found. As a result, children have been exposed to militias and rebel groups that recruit children into military/ militia and mining activities. As of 2019, about 40,000 children were involved in mining activities in this region. Children work as washers, diggers, sellers, or even smugglers. Artisanal mining is very dangerous for their health. Children are exposed to Radon, a radioactive substance associated with coltan. Radon has been associated with lung cancer. In the mining environments, children are vulnerable to prostitution, rape and other forms of exploitation, and so exposed to sexually transmitted diseases. Children work in mines because their families need income. Their parents' income is not sufficient to provide for their needs, so their contribution is needed for survival purposes. Children are faced with financial challenges and high demands for coltan and cobalt by tech companies. So, mining appears to be the best option that can earn them quick money. On top of the ongoing war, challenges related to traceability and mineral certification operations and the presence of subsidiary companies perpetuate child labor.

Traceability and Mineral Certification

There are no direct mechanisms to trace coltan across the supply chain. In 2017, the Congolese government reformed its mining policies to eradicate child labor. SAEMAPE (Service d'assistance et d'encadrement des mines artisanales et de petit echelle), a Congolese agency in partnership with ITSCI (International Tin Supply Chain Initiative), works to solve the issue of traceability in the supply chain of minerals. SAEMAPE agents have the responsibility of tagging bags to ensure traceability, among others. To ensure mineral certification, Congo-Kinshasa is a signatory of the Regional Certification Mechanism of the International Conference of the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas among others. However, poor administration, lack of staffing, and funding of the provincial mining department challenge the Congolese government to implement its policies against child labour.

Subsidiaries

Subsidiaries are key players in the supply chains, and some subsidiaries' activities have been linked with rebel groups. The international company Amalgamated Metal Corporation (AMC) Group, whose subsidiary, THAISARCO, a Thai company, buys coltan from the Panju comptoir, has been accused of being closely linked with the rebel group FDLR. The Congolese company Société Kotecha, based in Bukavu, supplies the UK-based firm Afrimex. Now dissolved, Afrimex was accused of failing to prove that its operation did not support armed conflict and forced labor.

Huaying Trading Company (HTC), World Mining Company (WMC), and Etablissement Muyeye sold their product to Niotan, which has become Kemet Corporation, a subsidiary of the Taiwanese company, Yageo. They also sell their product to African Ventures Ltd., a Hong Kong-based company. These three companies operate in areas under the control of the FDLR rebel group.

Finding out that subsidiaries such as Niotan or Afrimex, whose activities have been linked with rebel groups in east Congo, have been dissolved raises questions about the ambiguity in the supply chains and the roles these subsidiaries play in them. Subsidiaries' association with rebel groups that recruit children exposes children to military and mining activities.

Recommendations

On 3 May, 2001, the UN Security Council condemned the illegal exploitation of Congo-Kinshasa resources. One of the recommendations that the panel proposed was for the Security Council to "declare a temporary embargo on the import/export of coltan, pyrochlore, cassiterite, timber, gold and diamonds from and to Rwanda, Uganda, and Burundi, until their involvement in the exploitation of the natural resources of the Democratic Republic of the Congo is made clear; an immediate embargo on weapons and military materiel to the rebel groups, and extending that embargo to the States that supported those groups."

Rwanda is actively involved in supporting the Tutsi rebel group M23 in east DRCongo. The presence of Ugandan and Burundian rebels in the east is a threat to security and peace in DRCongo. This recommendation needs to be implemented now because this will force the above-mentioned states and groups to engage in the legal and fair trade of these minerals. This will cut mineral supply to subsidiaries involved with rebel groups. As a result, children will be spared from engaging in illegal mining activities.

DRCongo government must put in place structures that aim to eradicate child labour. However, one thing must be taken care of first: war must end. Direct violence (war) must be dealt with before dealing with structural violence causing child labour. Ending war means that the government will have absolute control over the East and thus implement its policies. It is only after dealing with direct violence that the Congolese government can go on to implement laws against child labour and create a conducive environment for investments and legal coltan business. Calling out Rwanda for supporting the M23 rebel group is not enough, this should be followed by sanctions if the United Nations and International Community truly care for Congolese children in the Kivu area.

Ending the war will bring some level of economic and political stability to the region and will give children a chance to go to school, thus reducing or eliminating their likelihood of working. One major reason children engage in mining and militia activities in the Kivu area is because of war. A UN report shows that the Eastern DRCongo is one of the worst places to be a child, and this is because of war. Congolese children deserve to live in a peaceful country, go to school, and have a normal childhood

Pauline Omboko Shongo is a student at the American University, pursuing an MA in Ethics, Peace, and Human Rights.

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