Child Labour: the Congo's Big Sin
Two Million Congolese Children Dead From Hard Work
What is the connection between your fancy cell phone, slim line laptop computer, iPod and child labour?
A brutal truth about modern day slavery and a covert military operation involving the illegal trafficking of coltan in the Democratic Republic of Congo, in Africa.
Every day millions of children are forced to crawl into underground mines on their hands and knees to dig for the essential raw material, coltan, to make electronic gadgets like cell phones, iPods, laptop computers, play stations, wireless systems, DVD players, blackberries and pagers possible.
These technologically advanced toys are given life from capacitors, which are made from coltan, dug up from dangerous mines by children, under age 10.
The illegal trafficking of coltan in the Congo, has made thousands of children labourers. They work from sunrise to after dark digging with their calloused little hands into the earth to remove the raw material to be traded on the black market for US $400 a pound.
Coltan, a rare columbium-tantalite ore, along with wolfarmite and cassiterite are dug from the mines by one group of children and then passed on to another group who sloshes the silt through a sieve, and scoop up the coltan from the bottom, for 20 cents a day.
Child labour is a worldwide crime. It is a shame when a country is guilty of allowing criminal elements to enslave its young children. Thousands of children, between three and ten, combine to form a massive child labour force to dig for coltan, also called black gold, in the militia controlled and operated mines in the Congo. More than two million children have died in the past ten years from mine related accidents there. In the Congo, a missing or dead child is disregard like a foul thought. The earnings from coltan are more important than the life of a scraggly child. And the Government pretends it does not exist.
The black market war for coltan is vicious. The trade is swift. The money is plentiful. The loss of life is inconsequential. Children die from diseases, starvation and unsafe working conditions. They suffer broken fingers, arms and wrists. They are abused, raped, murdered and dumped like dirt. Many are forced to become child soldiers attacking and killing their own friends and families.
In 2006, the U.S. Department of Labour listed Congo as the country with "The Worst Forms of Child Labor." And in October 2007, the U.S. Government announced it would donate US$16 million through the Save the Children Foundation to Congo, Togo and Uganda, to help purge child labour.
Can money free these children from the bondage of forced labour? And why does the Congolese Government pretend it does not exist? Why does the militia not employ machinery instead of child labour?
Who will hear the cries of these broken babies? Who will restore light to their empty lives? And who will mend their wounded spirits. Who will be their hero? Anyone who uses a cell phone, a pager, and electronic device made from coltan can be their hero. Employ the tools they placed in your hands to fight for their freedom from bondage and forced labour. Help them to find their childhood. Remove their burdens with the power at your fingertips.
A collective effort of online petitions, text messages, blitzes on radio and television highlighting their plight will bring their troubles into the hearts of millions of caring people, who are unaware of their plight. Denounce this torture. Child labour is a universal crime, and every country has its shame to bear in this discreet illegal employment practice. Help to save them and the millions of children in the Congo from horrific deaths.
Shame the United Nations, whose website on the Congo mentions nothing about child labour, Stop Child Labour Organisation, Human Rights Activists, Advocators of Child Safety and Rights, Corporate Organisations, Radio and Television media and everyone every where, where child labour is employed into action. Be proactive in your approach to end child labour in the Congo and other countries in the world. Amnesty International campaigns to keep murderers alive, it is time for them to campaign to free those innocent souls whose fault is having been born in a callous society.
And those who buy black market coltan for a hefty US$400 a pound must be made aware of the hardships children endure to provide an affluent life for them. Industries should begin experimenting to find a good substitute for coltan or buy legally from Canada and Australia. It is time to uphold the Fair Trade policy.
Perhaps the next time Oprah Winfrey visits Africa she could look up the Congolese children and on her return to the U.S. raise the issue with presidential hopeful Barrack Obama to create an awareness of the graveness of the situation. Support for such a cause will be as easy as lining up for free coffee at Dunkin Donuts.
Sloshing for coltan in the Congo
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