It’s pretty hard to conceptualize what 1,100 rapes a day means. Let’s start with the number 48. Every hour of the day in the Congo, 48 women are raped, often by large gangs of men, tortured and left with permanent psychological, physical and emotional scars. This number is more than twice the size of your average discussion group at UW. If we take a look at the number 1,100, the amount of women that are raped daily in the DRC, this number is the total amount of people living in Sellery Dorm. More than ten times the entire student body that attends UW-Madison: this is how many women are raped in a year in the Congo. How is violence against women on such a scale able to continue, barely registering as a reality for Badgers as we go about our lives? And an even more disturbing thought, how is UW-Madison, thousands of miles away, tied to the violence?
The answer to this latter question can be found in our classrooms, laboratories, administrative buildings and even our pockets. Everything electronic connects us to the armed groups in Congo. A large portion of resources used in these products, such as gold, tin, tungsten and tantalum, are found and mined in Congo, and make their way into electronics that are bought and sold worldwide. The problem with this system of trade and manufacturing is that armed groups operating in eastern Congo earn hundreds of millions of dollars each year from this minerals trade, and control most of the mining operations in mafia-like cartels, using systematic rape as a weapon to destroy communities. Nearly six million lives have been lost (more than the population of the state of Wisconsin), and more than 500,000 women have been raped.
As a major consumer and investor in electronics, UW-Madison must put pressure on the economic drivers behind this war on women and on humanity, and demand that our corporate partners stop importing goods that are mined and sold by Congolese rebel armies. Once these conglomerate companies stop buying minerals from rebel cartels, there will be room for a strategic reallocation of mine control.
UW-Madison’s Amnesty International group has created a petition to ask Chancellor Ward to pass a statement of support for conflict-free products. A symbolic statement is the first step on the road toward making UW-Madison conflict-free. In the near future, our university should also move to factor in conflict minerals in both their investment and purchasing policies. By passing a resolution regarding the use of Congo’s conflict minerals in consumer electronics, UW-Madison will join Stanford, the University of Pennsylvania, Duke University and several others to become a leading university in support of conflict-free, sending a powerful message to electronics companies to clean up their supply chains to ensure their products are not fueling the deadliest conflict since World War II.
For International Women’s Day, we are aiming to get at least 1,100 signatures on the petition to Chancellor Ward, in honor of the 1,100 Congolese women who are raped each day. Sign our petition; send it to your friends, family and women in your lives that you care about. One day, perhaps Congolese women will be able to control and export some of these minerals, allowing the Congo to finally gain its own economic sustainability, gender equality and peace.
Find our Petition here: https://www.change.org/petitions/chancellor-ward-please-pass-a-resolution-in-support-of-conflict-free-technology
Check out our facebook page to get receive updates on where we will be petitioning on campus, our Bascom Hill display that will take place this Friday, and other events promoting International Women’s Day!
https://www.facebook.com/UWMad…
*Contributing writers: Katy Johnson and UW Amnesty International