Hawa Doukhansse
English 101 M
Third major paper
” Blood ores”
How can you understand a country with rich raw materials such as gas, gold, oil, diamonds become very economically poor than a country without or less minerals? Since the world wars, the cold war until now, the great puissance such as USA, France and the Soviet Union didn’t stop sharing Africa’s wealth minerals to enrich their economies. Apple and Samsung are using these conflict minerals to manufacture their electronics devices. One of the example I want to present in my essay is the case of Central African Republic which is in the heart news because of the growth of the African groups army. These groups are formed to control resources that provide power and funding for continuing armed struggles. In addition, the trade of these minerals leads to child labor, rapes, violence, civil war, displaced and refugees. Laws providing by the United nations cannot stop the problem, but If the DRC can be economically independent (related to the money), and limit corruption, this issue could be solved more efficiently.
Smartphones or any digitals devices are useful to stay close to friends and family. We can talk to them anytime to find out how they are doing. We can have video chats to not only stay in touch, but to reach out and touch with a nearly physical presence. Loved ones can share in special occasions from great distances as if they are in the same room. We can make funny faces for our kids when we can't be there with them, which is far more important than it sounds.
Even though Apple and Samsung play a great role in the telephony world by making sophisticated and various kind of electronics to help people communicate easily, their production of smartphones or digitals tablets require minerals that they import from the Democratic republic of Congo. “The minerals, once out of the ground, are sold to companies who then make the devices, which are then sold to manufacturers such as Apple and Samsung” (Crimmins, F. 2016). In other words, the coltan mining that is subject are helping these companies to make more profit, but in the meantime buying a smartphone means indirectly help the rebel army groups to continue funding the war and exploit poor civilians and children. “One site of mine can produce hundreds of thousands of dollars a month in illegal” according to Kron, J. (2011, April 5). That is to say that these Congolese rebels live by making money of the trade and use the profits to buy heavy weapons in order to increase their power and dictate their law.
The child labor and the exploitation of civilians that result from the issue had a very bad impact in the country which led the problem to persist. In a country that the education is unfunctional or doesn’t exist anymore because of the political instabilities in addition of the difficulty to survive every single day, children are constrained to work in mining exploitations. “An unsafe mines deep underground in eastern Congo, child...
