Artisanal Gold Mine – Photo by Richard Wainwright / CAFOD

We use computers, cell phones, and a plethora of other electronics daily. But the trade in tin, tantalum, tungsten, and gold – key minerals used in these products – is funding the thirteen year-old war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The conflict in eastern Congo is the deadliest since WWII, claiming 5.4 million lives through war-related violence, disease and starvation. Women’s bodies have become the battleground in this brutal war to control Congo’s mineral wealth; hundreds of thousands of woman have been raped in the course of the war, destroying women’s bodies, their communities, and their country.

With our offices and classrooms full of cell phones, computers, and printers, the faith community has a lot to say to the electronics industry. Together we can promise to give our substantial business to companies that produce products untainted by these atrocities when they become available.