Blog Posts in Enough Moment

“People often ask me why I do this type of work and how I got started. I tell them there’s no short answer and that I’m not entirely sure I understand it myself! I have no single childhood trauma to offer as a compelling reason, or great religious conviction— but rather a strong feeling of moral obligation and sense of fairness that years of therapy might eventually connect to any number of personal insecurities or a fear of who knows what. What I do know is there’s a drive I can’t deny," writes Professor Lee Ann de Reus as she reflects on her Enough Moment.

Awareness about the link between eastern Congo’s decade-long war, consumer electronics, and the trade in conflict minerals is growing. Perhaps most significantly, the conflict minerals provision of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act passed last year in no small part thanks to the efforts of activists, who pushed a notable shift in how people in Africa’s Great Lakes region perceived public concern over Congo’s minerals.

The upside to the increasing attention on Congo’s conflict minerals is that a number of initiatives are underway to begin to trace, audit, and certify the mineral ores mined in Congo. However, without coordination or someone to lead the process and compel the necessary high-level buy-in, efforts risk being manipulated by those who benefit from the current system (or lack thereof).