The result of the class action law suit from the attack on the village of Kilwa was that several Congolese military troops were charged for arbitrary detention, rape, looting and shelling the town with mortar bombs which destroyed several homes. Also three Anvil employees were charged for facilitating the attacks on Kilwa. Although Anvil itself was not charged with any crimes committed. Latter on in the trial the Anvil employees and Congolese troops were acquitted of their charges because they were declared that they were fighting against a rebel group in order to protect the village. This legal outcome that Anvil and the Congolese troops faced is unjust because although they were fighting rebels their main goal was to secure the coltan mine …show more content…
More corporate social responsibility should be taken to ensure that the Congolese are being protected against the atrocities they are facing. The biggest problem that is happening in the DRC is that transnational corporations like Anvil are exploiting coltan and gaining massive amounts of economic profit whereas the DRC is hardly benefiting from the mining of coltan. This problem that the DRC is facing is defined by Richard Auty as the ‘resource curse’. The DRC is estimated to contain $24 trillion dollars’ worth of valuable minerals such as coltan and gold, this equals the combined GDP of both Europe and the United States (Carpenter 2012: 5). Although the DRC contains trillions of dollars in natural resources, the country stands 150 out of 174 as regards to per capita annual income and its GDP declined 5.8% per year from 1997 until 2000 and a further 4.1% in 2001, listing it as one of the poorest countries in Africa (ibid 5). . This raises many questions as to why the DRC has an abundant amount of resources they but is considered one of the poorest countries in …show more content…
The transnational corporation’s exploitation of the DRC’s resources is the main factor for the huge conflict because they have economic interests in continuing the civil war in the the DRC and fuel the fighting so they can maintain easy access over the extraction of Coltan in the DRC (ibid 9). The demand for coltan by transnational corporations that they use in phones, computers, and medical technology is funding the rebels and civil war that is killing millions of people. The reality that transnational corporations are fortifying the conflict in the DRC is absolutely terrifying because they are driven to create conflict in the DRC so that they can make money by extracting Coltan. We can classify the act of what transnational corporation are doing in the DRC by supporting rebel groups as the ‘resource curse’ because transnational corporations are gaining all the profit from the extraction of coltan whereas the DRC people are not benefiting from their own resources and are facing large scale poverty, displacement, and casualties. Although many advocates of foreign mining argue that it creates local employment, provides economic opportunities, and that mining companies often invest considerable resources in improving local health and education services, while also investing in
Being located in the west coast of Africa and between Guinea and Liberia, “Sierra Leone has an abundance of easily extractable diamonds”(BBC News). The diamonds had brought “encouragement” for violence in the country in 1991. Attacks of the Revolutionary “United Front (RUF) ,led by former army corporal Foday Sankoh”(Encyclopedia Britannica), were on government military and civilians. In response to a corrupt government, the RUF performed violent and terrorist acts that scarred many. “The RUF captured civilians and forced them to work”(Analyzing the Causes) in their army to gain control over Sierra Leone. The savages went a...
It is thought-provoking, in the sense that Africa’s need for foreign created a race to the bottom, much like what Pietra Rivoli described in The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy. Due to some African states’ reliance on foreign aid in order to mine and profit on their resources, they allow business standards to be lowered and for Chinese firms to tip the contracts moresoever in the favor of Chinese firms. This lowers the potential earnings of African states by lowering royalty rates, for example. Additionally, Burgis’ research was thorough and transparent. When he did not receive a response or if his questions were dodged, he made it obvious to the readers. Sure, some could view this book as too anecdotal to be used as a credible source of Africa’s situation. However, this is due to the nature of the system Burgis is writing about; after all, they are shadow states for a reason. Some readers will be saddened by this text, others angry, most curious to learn more, but above all, everyone will be intellectually stimulated and
In the early 1990s, the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) of Sierra Leone, led by former military agents invaded Sierra Leone from Liberia. The RUF initially said they were leading a political movement. Their main goals were to promote liberation, democracy, and freedom. They said they wanted justice and equality for all civilians living in Sierra Leone. In spite of what the RUF said they were doing, they were forceful and left trails of murder in their path. When civilians lacked support for the “political revolution”, the RUF started a decade long war that ravaged the country as a whole. The RUF developed a sense of structured, militarized violence. It created a climate of opportunities for average civilians to obtain cheap weapons. With the greater access to weapons for civilians and the RUF, the politics became more militarized also. As the war waged on, poverty rose and people began to resort to looting of national resources. Laws diminished and seemed to lack any strength against the brute force of the RUF and their civilian followers (Denov, 2010).
One of the largest industries within Sierra Leone is mining industry due to it's natural resources such as diamonds. This has caused an issue of food production as many of the youths in Sierra Leone have chosen mining over agriculture. The mining industry offers the potential of making large sums of money so many workers are switching due to “the lure of striking it rich”(Grant Andrew, 2007) . The idea of workers making lager sums of money in other industries is one of the main reasons why their is a labour shortage in the agriculture sector. Although researchers found that “Flooding the labour market in the diamond sector will further reduce the already
The country of Uganda is a struggling nation and has adversities with their living conditions, economy, and politics. Uganda uses a republic form of government. It has a mixed legal system of English common law and customary law. The country has a plethora of natural resources “including fertile soils, regular rainfall, small deposits of copper, gold, and other minerals, and recently discovered oil” (“CIA World Factbook”).The country itself has the potential to become wealthy and more powerful, but before you can access and use these resources, you first need to improve the living conditions for the people of the country. In order to do this the country is currently attempting to stabilize the economy by undertaking an economic reform. However, “unreliable power, high energy costs, inadequate transportation infrastructure, and corruption inhibit economic development and investor confidence”(CIA World Factbook). Once again, many small things need to be changed and fixed before the achievement of the final goal of improving the economy is remotely possible. Overall the...
"Crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo."Responsibilitytoprotect.org. International Coalition for the Responsibility to Protect, 2011. Web. 19 Feb 2014.
The acts of violence that were performed by rebels in Africa were horrific. Adults and children were murdered, mutilated, tortured, and raped. The Revolutionary United Front (RUF) in Sierra Leone performed despicable acts of cutting off a people's body parts with machetes to instill fear in the community. If you were working in the diamond mines and not performing up to the standards of the rebels you would lose a body part as punishment. Rebels would continue to do this from one village to another in order “to take control of the mines in the area” (Hoyt). It is estimated that in Sierra Leone that over 20,000 people suffered mutilation. The acts that the rebels performed to these innocent victims was clearly a violation to their human rights. The RUF collected 125 million a year to fund their war on the government and the people of Sierra Leone.
Since Congo’s independence in 1960, its history has been marked by a series of political conflicts. The economy of Congo, a nation endowed with resources of vast potential wealth has declined drastically since the mid-1980s. The two political conflicts (first and second Congo wars), which began in 1996, have dramatically reduced national output and government revenue, have increased external debt, and have resulted in deaths of more than one million people.
... attention allowed economic exploitation in the Congo and its people devastated by human rights abuses, and even today the lack of international attention has caused many conflicts in and around the Congo. The economic exploitation of the Congo during colonial times robbed the country of wealth which could have been used to develop the land, and the lack of wealth has contributed to Congo’s poor standing in the world today. Lastly, the human rights abuses in the Congo Free State contributed to economic and political troubles during the colonial period and has continued into the present day, as human rights abuses are still prevalent in that region of Africa. Due to the lack of international attention, economic exploitation, and human rights abuses, the Congo Free State was harmful to the Congo region of Africa and its legacy continues to harm that region of Africa.
The Congolese economy is excessively based in the oil sector, which represents about 52% of its GDP, 85% of its exports, and 70% of public revenue. The industry, non-oil sector, despite to Congo’s great potential is underdeveloped. The GDP was $12.6 billion and GDP per capita $3,700. Formerly ranked as a lower-middle- income country, per capita income has declined steadily since the late 1980s. The inflation and annual real growth were respectively 2.6% and -1.6%. We may significantly notice that more of the Congolese economic activities are not reflected the in GDP data and took place in the informal sector. The GDP by sector was represented as follow, industry (65%), agriculture (5%), and services
The Congo has become a source of foreign interference as many western companies buy minerals from the country such as coltan, cassiterite, gold, and tourmaline. Many of the mines are owned by corrupt members of the Kinshasa government. These officials take most of the profit that is earned from selling the minerals and do not try to help the Congolese people. Villagers work in the mines
From 1965 up until present day, the Congo’s fate has exchanged from hand to hand due to weak, unstable, and changing governments ("D.R. Congo Backgrounder"). No matter the government in charge, the Congo always falls to misfortune with its native people paying the cost. Today, the Congolese people continue to be exploited due to the abundance of natural resources found on their land. Heavily sought after minerals, often used in electronics, are the modern culprits instigating the violence (Fehr). Competition is rife in areas where tungsten, diamonds, tin, and gold, dubbed “conflict minerals,” are more common (Fehr). Rebel groups constantly fight over the precious resources and often at the Congolese civilians expense. Caught in the crossfire, civilians are severely injured or lose their lives. When a rebel group finally wins their turf, the natives found on it, including children, are forcefully displaced, subjected to sexual violence, enlisted to fight for the rebel army, or enslaved ("D.R. Congo Backgrounder."). Once again, the Congolese people succumb to violence provoked by competition over natural resources.
Natural resources found in the heart of Africa drive the European economy and are imperative for a wealthy nation. Rich soil and an abundance of water allow the Congo to cultivate mass amounts of rubber, copper, oil, and other minerals. As a result of high demand, the black man is expected to work at the rate of European industrialization; if he does not meet his quota, the punishment is severe. Now, rubber demands have skyrocketed because of the bicycle, a new mode of modern transport. The Congo’s largest revenue now comes from rubber, yet we neglect the black man who cultivates it. As a commodity, the black man is forced to work strenuous hours to keep up with uncontrollable production demands. Year after year, the Congo is stripped from its most valuable resources through unethical practices. Colonial regimes expose the true cruelty of European rule for the sake of economic
The recent Civil War in Congo has been a bloody flight, causing more then 3.3 million deaths in just 4 short years.1 Various rebel and ethnic groups have have been involved in the violence, fighting over Congo's rich natural resources or engaged in a bitter ethnic war. With so many opposing factions, it has made reaching a solution difficult. While a rough peace treaty has been established, sporadic fighting pops up in the country everyday. The people of Congo are being pushed farther into poverty and starvation can't handle the fighting for very much longer. I propose that the solution to the post-Civil War violence in Congo is to rid the country of all foreign nations and their problems, namely the Rwandans, and to get combatants inside of the country to hold a summit and find a peaceful and fair resolution to the problem, with a superpower like the United States acting as host and mediator. Once all quarrels are amended, the Congolese can start to focus on a economic strategy for rebuilding the country.
The question to be answered in this paper is to what extent has the resource curse affected the Nigerian economy and government? Resource curse is a term that states the observation that countries that have a plethora of natural resources (e.g. oil, coal, diamonds etc.) usually have unstable political and economic structures (Sachs, 827). Nigeria is categorized as a nation that has succumb to the resource curse as it has an abundance of, and an overdependence on, oil, and a decreasing gross domestic product (GDP) (Samuels, 321-322). Nigeria is known for its specialization and overdependence on oil and according to Ross, nations of such nature tend to have high levels of poverty, large class gaps, weak educational systems, more corruption within the government, and are less likely to become democracies (Ross, 356). The political instability and regime change in Nigeria will be observed in this paper. The resource curse has greatly weakened Nigeria as it has led to the numerous regime changes, the hindering of the nation’s democratization, corruption in the government, as well as, civil conflict.