The unpublicized victim of war

“Though mankind has always counted its war casualties in terms of dead and wounded soldiers and civilians, destroyed cities and livelihoods, the environment has often remained the unpublicized victim of war.”  –United Nations

Tuesday November 6 is International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict. First designated by the U.N. General Assembly in 2001, this day each year offers an opportunity to consider the many ways in which war and the environment are inextricably intertwined:

  • Armed conflict, as well as weapons production and testing, lead to environmental pollution and other forms of ecological devastation.
  • Wartime tactics include deliberately targeting ecosystems (e.g., draining marshland or burning cropland) to inflict pain on the opposition and gain military advantage.
  • Military use of fossil fuels is a prime contributor to climate change.
  • Conflicts over natural resources (e.g., oil, water and minerals) are leading causes of war.
  • Profits from the exploitation of natural resources are used to fund armed conflicts.
  • Prevention of war requires protection and stewardship of environmental resources.

Engaging Peace has explored many of these issues in previous posts:

  • The U.S. war in Iraq has left a trail of environmental devastation and adverse health impacts for survivors.  (For example, see post on Fallujah.)
  • The U.S. military is the single biggest contributor to global warming pollution. (See 2011 Earth Day post).
  • Resource extraction in the Democratic Republic of the Congo fuels rebellion and relies on child labor.
  • Nuclear war has the potential to annihilate entire populations of people and wildlife, poisoning their ecosystems for generations.
  • Efforts to unite the peace and environmental movements recognize that preventing war helps to preserve the environment–and vice versa.

A healthy ecosystem and access to natural resources are necessities for a peaceful world. Likewise, eliminating war would significantly impact the health of the planet.

How might your own peace activism embrace the goals of environmental activism?

Dr. Pat Daniel, Managing Editor of Engaging Peace

Weapons of war: rape

All weapons of war are weapons of destruction and pain. Previous posts have reminded readers of the pervasive lethal effects of, for example, nuclear weapons, chemical weapons, and landmines.

Another violent and devastating tactic recognized by the United Nations Security Council as a weapon of war is rape.

In its resolution calling for an end to sexual violence against women, the Security Council said, “Women and girls are particularly targeted by the use of sexual violence, including as a tactic of war to humiliate, dominate, instill fear in, disperse and/or forcibly relocate civilian members of a community or ethnic group.”

A recent report from the U.N. High Commissioner of Human Rights focused on the horrendously high rates of rape by warring groups in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, and the Dafur region of Sudan.

Unfortunately, we must add to the list of wartime horrors the rape of U.S. servicewomen by U.S. servicemen. Watch the video above; you will not easily forget.

And for a horrifying example of moral disengagement in regard to the rape of women in the U.S. military, watch Liz Trotta of Fox News blame the victims.

If you watch these and other videos, you will want to do something. Stop Rape Now, the U.N. Action Against Sexual Violence in Conflict agency, provides several suggestions, including the simple action of crossing your arms. Learn what you can do to stop this weapon of war.

Kathie Malley-Morrison, Professor of Psychology

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