Blood Coltan

Mobil phones, everyone owns one, indispensable in our modern lives. But what almost no one knows: in each one of these devices is blood. Because these small marvels of technology do not work without a metal named Coltan. The main source of this material lies in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is also one of the main sources for the war there.
Our Catholic faith calls on us to uphold the life and dignity of the human person by alleviating human suffering and promoting justice and solidarity worldwide. Therefore we must work to assure that the potential benefits of natural resource extraction are realized.
The Catholic Bishops of the DRC have identified conflict minerals as a critical issue and traveled to the United States to focus attention to the drivers of the crisis. Our Holy Father, Benedict XVI, stated in his encyclical letter, Charity in Truth: “The stockpiling of natural resources, which in many cases are found in the poor countries themselves, gives rise to exploitation and frequent conflicts between and within nations. These conflicts are often fought on the soil of those same countries, with a heavy toll of death, destruction and further decay. The international community has an urgent duty to find institutional means of regulating the exploitation of non-renewable resources…”
The violent conflict in the eastern DRC has killed more than five million people – most from malnutrition, disease, and lack of access to health care – and forced more than 1.25 million people from their homes. Related to the ongoing conflict, an estimated 400,000 women and girls have been raped in eastern DRC in the past ten years. Humanitarian assistance is vitally needed to support the DRC’s victims of violence and displacement, but it is not enough. We must also address the drivers of the conflict, including 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 use of illicitly mined conflict minerals to finance violence.


Take Action Now! Urge your Representative to help stop the violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) by co-sponsoring H.R. 4128, the Conflict Minerals Trade Act, and ensuring that the bill moves forward quickly.
The documentary “Blood Coltan” tells about the dirty business with Coltan and its consequences