Beyond Blood Mobiles : There are no simple solutions for the DRC
Keywords
Loading...
Issue Date
2009-07
Language
en
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
In the summer of 2008 violence flared up again in the eastern part of the Democratic
Republic of Congo (DRC). The media and political attention for the problems in the
DRC were at an all-time high. There were two global simplified explanations for the
eruption of the violence: it was either an ethnic problem, or a resource problem. It is
widely believed, however, that resources are the main cause of the conflict in the
DRC. Special attention was being paid for the role of coltan, which is won in the DRC
and is used in electronics, for instance in mobile phones. This example was used to
draw attention to the problems caused by natural resources the DRC. This issue had
already been raised in 2001 when the price of coltan was so extremely high that
a ‘black gold rush’ overrun the country. This has also had its impact on society;
different militant parties fought over the resources, and many people were drawn
to the mines were they found work under slavery-like conditions. In 2008 the role of
coltan was much smaller than it was in 2001; now cassiterite (tin) was the most
important export product of the DRC. The ‘coltan issue’ seemed to be outdated and
the importance of the mineral on the global market was slim, according to many. But
still, different possible solutions for the influence of natural resources on the
conflict were posed, and one of those solutions was the Trading Chains. The Certification of Trading Chains (CTC)
is a project proposed by the Bundesanstalt
für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe
(BGR), an institute that does research for
the German government. The BGR has
started two initiatives, both related to
coltan: fingerprinting coltan and the CTC.
The technique of fingerprinting could be
used to trace a mineral back to its mine by
geochemical means. This fingerprinting
can be used in the CTC, which aim it is to
certificate the mineral from its origin to its
end user. The goal of this certification
process is to make it possible for
merchants and manufacturers to see if the
mineral they buy is in any way related to
conflict. But the CTC does not only look at the relationship between the mineral and a
certain conflict. It also looks at work
conditions, security, human rights and
social economic and institutional
development and environmental
performance. The CTC is still in its pilot
phase, which is held in Rwanda and will
probably start in the DRC in 2009.
Description
Citation
Supervisor
Faculty
Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen