Mennonite Weekly Review

The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery; they have oppressed the poor and needy and have extorted from the foreigner without redress. And I sought for anyone among them who would repair the wall and stand in the breach before me on behalf of the land, so that I would not destroy it; but I found no one. — Ezekiel 22:29-30

Stata

“I sleep like an animal,” Noella, a woman who lives in a camp for internally displaced people in eastern Congo, muttered dejectedly.

Conditions in the camp — located on a hardened lava flow and isolated from schools, food, clean water and health care — are, to put it mildly, inhumane.

Millions of civilians have been internally displaced by fighting in Congo. For 10 years the country has been embroiled in a conflict involving nearly a dozen rebel groups, resulting in more than 5 million deaths. The conflict is fueled by a quest for control of lucrative natural resources.

Rape and other forms of sexual violence have become a weapon of war, employed by the rebels and Congolese army alike to terrorize their victims and tear apart communities.

According to John Holmes, the United Nations Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, Congo is home to the worst sexual violence in the world. The U.N. estimates 1,100 women and girls are raped each month. The victims range in age from infants to the elderly. A climate of impunity plagues Congo, due to a woefully under-resourced judicial system that lacks the capacity to prosecute perpetrators.

In a cruel twist of irony, Congo’s greatest potential for promoting development has become a lethal liability. Tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold are the primary minerals illegally traded by armed militias, earning them $144 million each year.

After the minerals are sold, they are transported through neighboring countries. From there the minerals are shipped to various parts of East Asia, where they are processed into metals. Corporations purchase these metals and use them to produce electronic devices such as computers and cell phones. The United States is one of the largest consumers for these products.

Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas recently introduced a bill that requires greater oversight, transparency and accountability of American companies that purchase minerals extracted from eastern Congo. The Congo Conflict Minerals Act of 2009 addresses one of the root causes of Congo’s war by requiring companies to examine the mineral supply chain and ensure that the purchased minerals are legally mined.

The struggle to control the supply of minerals in eastern Congo and the demand of American corporations and consumers for these resources perpetuate a ruthless conflict that uses women’s bodies as its battlefield. As Christians, we are called to do justice (Micah 6:8).

There is no justice in this supply chain. Not only are women and girls vulnerable to sexualized torture, but the Congolese people are unable to reap the benefits of their natural resources in order to rebuild after years of fighting.

The Congo Conflict Minerals Act of 2009 aims to unravel the underlying factors that contribute to the cycle of violence plaguing this country. This bill is a first step in restoring control of Congo’s minerals, land and security to its most important resource: its people.

Mary Stata is a legislative assistant for international affairs in the Mennonite Central Committee Washington Office.