Since the mid-1990s, civilians in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have suffered rampant armed conflict. Civilians have suffered the most, victim to both direct violence and secondary effects of the conflict, such as disease and hunger. Militia groups rape thousands of women every day and use children as soldiers, porters, and sexual slaves. One of the main drivers of violence and the predatory nature of all armed groups in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is the vast mineral resources in the eastern region of North and South Kivu. Violence is being fueled by a multi-million dollar illicit mining industry of minerals such as the 3 Ts (tin, tantalum, and tungsten) that can be found in all of our electronic devices including: smartphones, gaming systems, computers, and military equipment. Gold, used in our jewelry and electronics, is also regularly mined and easily smuggled by armed groups out of the country. Jewish World Watch’s empowerment programs address these crises through holistic rehabilitation, peace-building education and community rebuilding.

Statistics (Key Facts) 

• 5.4 million killed in conflict
• 1000s of children in militias
• 1,152 women raped a day

Jewish World Watch’s Response

Empowerment Projects

• JWW is helping to secure the release of boys and girls from armed groups, many of whom are being used as child soldiers and sex slaves. Our brave partners in the DRC risk their own lives to negotiate the release of these children – some as young as eight years old. Once the children reach the safety of our partners’ facilities, each child receives psychosocial assistance to address the trauma they have endured and aid in trying to reunite with his or her family safely.
• More than 1,100 women are raped in the DRC every day. We are working in coordination with 2018 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Dr. Denis Mukwege to bring rapid response medical missions to remote areas of the Democratic Republic of the Congo unreachable by traditional aid. These critical missions provide holistic medical care, psychosocial assistance and collect evidence to bolster legal efforts against perpetrators.
• The JWW-funded Congo Peace School provides peace-related education for children unable to afford school fees, taking them off the streets, out of the mines, and into classrooms. The school also teaches organic animal husbandry and farming practices to its students and the surrounding community, enhancing social cohesion in an area otherwise riven with strife and violence. Education is a powerful tool for global change.
• Through a men’s mentorship program, our gender-based violence training aims to create a social change movement to protect Congolese women. It does so in a unique way — by tackling the root cause of the violence against them: the mindset of the perpetrators utilizing a curriculum that draws on biblical lessons to demonstrate how women should be valued and respected.

Legislative success

• Dodd-Frank: In response to the realization that US companies may be inadvertently helping to fuel mass atrocities in eastern DRC by using minerals sourced illicitly in their products, the US Congress passed a ground-breaking law that requires publicly traded US companies to determine and disclose whether their products contain one or more of the 3T and gold minerals from the DRC or its surrounding countries. Congress passed Section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank) in 2010. The bill requires companies to do due diligence supply chain reporting to determine if the minerals they are using in their products may be benefiting armed groups in DRC. Due diligence reporting is a small step in the right direction resulting in some companies working to ensure their products are not helping fuel violence in the DRC.