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Congo may be far away, but the ongoing conflict there is intertwined closely and immediately with our lives here in the U.S. Control over the country's coltan, a mineral upon which our daily, technically-advanced lives depend, is one of the primary factors driving the war (mineral sales fund weapons purchasing) that is terrorizing people, primarily women, with inhumanely horrific violence on a daily basis.
The Conflict Minerals Trade Act
You can help. The already-introduced Conflict Minerals Trade Act of 2009 would create a more reliable system to identify "conflict minerals" that in turn would help to sever the ties between the mineral trade and the human rights abuses that we know are only getting worse. Since efforts already underway to avoid conflict minerals from DRC are ineffective, we need greater action. Now.
The ENOUGH Project is encouraging people to organize meetings with their Representatives during the week of February 15-19, when Congress will be on break and likely to be back in their hometowns. Use that chance to urge Representatives to cosponsor the Conflict Minerals Trade Act of 2009, which was introduced by Jim McDermott (D-WA), Frank Wolf (R-VA), and Barney Frank (D-MA).
The war in Congo is not a "tribal conflict," and it's time we accept responsibility for—and act to change—our role in the world's longest, and probably cruelest, war.
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