Action Alert from Catholic Relief Services

Urge Congress to support S. 891/H.R. 4128 to help improve the lives of our Congolese sisters and brothers

Take Action Now! Urge your members of Congress to help stop the violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) by co-sponsoring H.R. 4128 in the House of Representatives or S.891 in the Senate. We need to ensure that these bills move forward quickly.

Why is action important now? The violent conflict in the Eastern DRC has by some estimates killed more than five million people - most from malnutrition, disease, and lack of access to health care - and has currently displaced more than 1.7 million people from their homes. Related to the conflict, an estimated 400,000 women and girls have been raped in the Eastern DRC in the past ten years. Humanitarian assistance is vitally needed to support the DRC’s victims of violence and displacement, but we must also address its causes, including the trade of so-called “conflict minerals.”

Much of the instability, displacement, conflict, and sexual violence in the Eastern DRC is financed by armed groups’ control over lucrative mines and mineral trade routes. One of several such “conflict minerals” is coltan, a critical component for the production of cell phones, laptops, and other electronics. Much of the DRC's coltan is being illicitly mined in conflict zones and illegally exported through neighboring countries. We can help the people of the DRC by reducing the ability of armed groups to finance violence with illicitly mined conflict minerals.