3 ms·

Do you have any proof that children are slaves there (as opposing to working out of need)?

anon1385 11y ago
Here's a huge report about the activities of the people you are wanting to buy minerals from: https://www.globalwitness.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/report_en_final_0.pdf https://www.globalwitness.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/repor... "In the course of plundering these minerals, rebel groups and the Congolese army have used forced labour (often in extremely harsh and dangerous conditions), carried out systematic extortion and imposed illegal “taxes” on the civilian population. They have also used violence and intimidation against civilians who attempt to resist working for them or handing over the minerals they produce." Are you aware of the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo? There has been a civil war going on for 20 years. Control of mineral resources is an important source of funding for both sides in the conflict. Buying minerals from the Congo means dealing with violent armed militias who have been engaged in an appalling decades long war. You may as well be arguing about the morality of buying oil from ISIS on the basis that their drills are being operated by civilians who need the pay to survive. Current US foreign policy is to blow those people to bits, not buy oil from them to preserve their "jobs". You seem to be under the assumption that buying minerals from the Congo means the miners actually got paid. This is by no means certain at all. Some of it is just extorted from civilians at roadblocks as a "tax". Buying those minerals hasn't helped the miners at all, it has just further funded the militias/armies that are terrorising the civilian population (murder, rape, extortion, kidnapping).
- seunosewa 11y ago
  Here's the real problem: " Congo’s 2002 Mining Code stipulates that ... mining can only take place in designated zones by registered miners. The failure of the government to assign sufficient areas has led to an increase in illegal mining at unauthorized sites, Amnesty said."
  - anon1385 11y ago
    The real problem is that there's a brutal civil war. The idea that the origin of the problem is government overregulation is laughable.
    - seunosewa 11y ago
      It's government inefficiency, not over-regulation. Regulation is essential to preventing abusive labour practices, but when the regulators are not efficient enough to provide licences to good guys who want follow the rules, bad guys who don't give a damn about the rules will take over. Unless Amnesty International is misinformed, this is at least one of the main reasons for this problem.

Here's a huge report about the activities of the people you are wanting to buy minerals from: https://www.globalwitness.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/report_en_final_0.pdf https://www.globalwitness.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/repor... "In the course of plundering these minerals, rebel groups and the Congolese army have used forced labour (often in extremely harsh and dangerous conditions), carried out systematic extortion and imposed illegal “taxes” on the civilian population. They have also used violence and intimidation against civilians who attempt to resist working for them or handing over the minerals they produce." Are you aware of the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo? There has been a civil war going on for 20 years. Control of mineral resources is an important source of funding for both sides in the conflict. Buying minerals from the Congo means dealing with violent armed militias who have been engaged in an appalling decades long war. You may as well be arguing about the morality of buying oil from ISIS on the basis that their drills are being operated by civilians who need the pay to survive. Current US foreign policy is to blow those people to bits, not buy oil from them to preserve their "jobs". You seem to be under the assumption that buying minerals from the Congo means the miners actually got paid. This is by no means certain at all. Some of it is just extorted from civilians at roadblocks as a "tax". Buying those minerals hasn't helped the miners at all, it has just further funded the militias/armies that are terrorising the civilian population (murder, rape, extortion, kidnapping).

seunosewa 11y ago
Here's the real problem: " Congo’s 2002 Mining Code stipulates that ... mining can only take place in designated zones by registered miners. The failure of the government to assign sufficient areas has led to an increase in illegal mining at unauthorized sites, Amnesty said."
- anon1385 11y ago
  The real problem is that there's a brutal civil war. The idea that the origin of the problem is government overregulation is laughable.
  - seunosewa 11y ago
    It's government inefficiency, not over-regulation. Regulation is essential to preventing abusive labour practices, but when the regulators are not efficient enough to provide licences to good guys who want follow the rules, bad guys who don't give a damn about the rules will take over. Unless Amnesty International is misinformed, this is at least one of the main reasons for this problem.