Child Labor in Congo: The Exploitation of Children in Coltan Mining Sites in Response to the Increase in Worldwide Demand for New Technologies

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is endowed with quite a few natural resources such as gold, diamonds and copper. It also possess more than half of the world’s coltan. The latter is extremely important to advanced technology and is used in mobile phones, cameras, and computers. The majority of Congo’s coltan is located in the eastern part of the country, an extremely fragile region ravaged by sporadic wars. Unfortunately, what most people might consider as a huge advantage has become one of the country’s biggest problems. The increase in worldwide demand for new technologies and the poverty of that particular region have made children vulnerable to exploitation as a cheap labor force. Even though child labor is illegal in the DRC, companies, armed groups or officials from the government exploit children by having them mine illegally in unauthorized industrial sites. Children work in extremely horrible conditions; most of them dig barehanded and earn only $2 per day. In this presentation, I will discuss the unsafe conditions faced by children in the coltan mine. Then, I will present some of the roots of this issue. Finally, I will suggest one way to address this problem.

Christiana Tembo, Electrical and Electronics Engineering ‘21

Christiana Tembo was born in Kinshasa, but spent most of her childhood in the small village of Muanda in the Democratic Republic of Congo. She came to the United States in 2016 and considers herself as a first-generation student. Christiana speaks three different languages: French, Lingala, and English. Although she has been in the United States for almost 4 years, Christiana has always been preoccupied and concerned about the issues happening in the African continent, especially during the COVID 19 pandemic. Christiana is currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering. She is the president of the National Society of Black Engineers at Seattle University and an ambassador for diversity in STEM. One of Christiana’s missions is to advocate for women all over the world by breaking stereotypes and misconceptions people have about women in the STEM field.