From 1885 to 1908, the Congo was under the private control of Belgium's King Leopold II, and later became an official colony of Belgium. The decades were characterized by extractivism, violence, and forced labor in which an estimated 10 million were killed. Those who refused to harvest their own country’s rubber, ivory, and minerals to enrich Belgium were mutilated or outright murdered. The colonial government also sewed divisions between different ethnic groups in the Congo, further working to destabilize the region.

The Congo remained under European colonial rule until 1960. Patrice Lumumba, a leader in the Congo’s liberation movement and Pan-African thinker, became the first Prime Minister of the newly-independent Congo. Belgian businesses – who continued to extract the Congo’s wealth – worried Lumumba would nationalize the Congo’s mines. Lumumba was later ousted by a coup, was assassinated, and replaced with a dictator.

The legacy of imperialist history and extraction continues today in the Congo, as multinational corporations grow richer off the extraction of the DRC’s immense mineral wealth. The extraction of cobalt, coltan, and copper by tech and energy sectors comes at a cost. Extreme human rights violations, including forced labor, child labor, and deadly working conditions are pervasive across the mining industry.
Today, multinational corporations grow even richer off the DRC’s immense mineral wealth, including cobalt, coltan, and copper. This extraction, especially prevalent in the tech and energy sector, comes as a cost, as extreme human rights violations, including forced labor, child labor, and deadly working conditions are pervasive across the mining industry.

The link between imperialism, extractivism, and human rights abuses remains undeniable - if we are to address the root causes of modern slavery in the Congo, we must dismantle exploitative systems and demand accountability for the corporations knowingly profiting off of forced labor, justice for the people of the Congo.

Friends of the Congo and The International Coalition Against Modern Slavery will be working on a joint campaign to educate on the issue of forced labor in the Congo, advocate for accountability and labor protections, and spotlight the efforts of Congolese activists.