Issues In Congo Research Paper

As of January of this year, China, the leading producer, refiner, and exporter of rare earth minerals, has begun cutting off exports to the US and other consumers. Despite efforts by both the World Trade Organization and United States, they have refused to open up exports again. This has presented a difficult problem for the United States. Rare earth minerals are used in a plethora of products, including renewable technology, precision guided missiles, and computers. As the supply of minerals in the United States decreases, the demand has increased by over 65% . To compensate for this issue, the United States has started importing minerals from the Democratic Republic of Congo. The minerals mined in the Congo are problematic because they are only made possible because of slavery-like conditions for laborers. …show more content…
Many individuals die from dehydration, malnutrition, and ill-regulated mining conditions. All the money produced from these mining projects goes into the pockets of regional dictators and war lords. Because these operations are run by the government, many civil organizations and terrorist groups try to gain control of the government so as to obtain the huge industry that is rare earth mineral production . The instability caused by conflict mining often spills over regionally, resulting in conflicts such as the Rwandan genocide, Burundi, and Angola. Deaths in the Congo alone have tallied up in the millions, more than any war the United States has been involved in since the end of World War II. Despite these terrible issues, conflict mining rarely gets recognition. To address this, the United States introduced the Dodd Frank act, aimed at forcing companies to disclose the use of conflict minerals in their products . Despite this new provision, many companies have found loopholes and investors have not shown much