Children wash copper at an open-air mine in Katanga province in southeastern DR Congo. For a long time, armed groups have engaged in child and forced labour as well as extensive human-rights abuses against civilians. PHOTO | AFP
Armed actors in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s artisanal mining have been dealt a blow with the release of $3.7 million funding by the United States Agency for International Development to counter illegal mineral activities in the country.
The actors profit from the minerals through raiding of mines, illegal taxation or collaborating with smugglers.
