Child labor supports war machine

[Note from Kathie Malley-Morrison:  Today we welcome guest contributor Roger-Claude Liwanga, a human rights lawyer from the Congo.]


Forced child labor in the Congolese mining industry supports the manufacture of missiles and other weapons systems used in global warfare. Children aged 5 to 17 years are forced to work under poor and dangerous conditions, without safety. They dig, gather, screen, wash, and lift heavy loads of radioactive minerals, including coltan, uranium, cobalt, and others.

Armed groups in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), who are illegally exploiting minerals to finance their military activities, rely on child forced labor because children are malleable and cannot effectively resist. Recent UNICEF statistics indicate that 43,000 children were working in DRC artisanal mines in 2010.[1]

The circumstances of mining labor produce catastrophic consequences for children. Many  are killed in the mines, get ill with sicknesses such as pneumonia and lung disease, are gravely injured so that they cannot work in the future, and ultimately lose hope for a better life.

Coltan is a fundamental material for the production of modern electronics because of its ability to hold high electric charges.[2] It is used in cellular phones, computers, MP3 players, jet engines, missiles, ships, and weapons systems. Electronic manufacturers such as Apple, Dell, Motorola, Nokia, and Hewlett-Packard are among the principal consumers of coltan[3].

The DRC has 64% of the world’s reserves of this mineral, and 40% percent of those working in the Congolese coltan mines are children.[4] The problem of child forced labor in the Congolese mines emanates from the combination of poverty, political instability (war), lack of schools in the mining areas, ignorance of child labor laws and the dangers of mining work on children’s health, and failure to prosecute child traffickers.

All civilized nations should take action to end human rights abuse in the Congolese mines and to prevent the buying and selling of “conflict minerals” that motivate and finance wars.

Roger-Claude Liwanga is a human rights lawyer from the Congo, co-founder and executive director of Promote Congo Inc., and legal consultant at The Carter Center. Contact him at roger.liwanga@gmail.com


[1] UNICEF quoted by Amnesty International, The 2010 Annual Report for Congo (Dem. Rep. of), available at http://www.amnestyusa.org/annualreport.php?id=ar&yr=2010&c=COD.

[2] University of Michigan, “Computer Industry Impacts on the Environment and Society”. Available at: http://sitemaker.umich.edu/section002group3/coltan_mining_in_democratic_republic_of_the_congo

[3] Amnesty International, “Exploitation in the DRC fuels mining trade: Apple, Dell look the other way”. Available at: http://blog.amnestyusa.org/business/exploitation-in-the-drc-fuels-mining-trade-apple-dell-look-the-other-way//

[4] BMS World Mission, “Combating child labour in Congo”. Available at: http://www.bmsworldmission.org/news-blogs/blogs/combating-child-labour-congo