Written question asked by Keith Simpson (Conservative) on Monday, 18 May 2009, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 20 May 2009. It was answered by Baroness Merron (Labour) on Monday, 1 June 2009 on behalf of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Democratic Republic of Congo: Natural Resources

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent assessment he has made of the effect on the human rights situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo of the exploitation of and trade in minerals in that country; and if he will make a statement.

Answer: Democratic Republic of Congo's (DRC) natural resources have the potential to bring prosperity to the country and help improve the quality of life for people living there through better revenue collection and the creation of wealth and jobs. However, a proportion of those resources are controlled by militias and ill-disciplined members of the DRC armed forces who commit many of the abuses suffered by civilians and who fund themselves, in part, by trading minerals. This is one of a range of factors contributing to the poor standard of human rights in DRC. Better regulatory control over the trade in minerals from DRC and effective measures to discourage transactions which benefit militia groups there, will help improve the human rights situation. We are already working with our partners across Whitehall and internationally to identify ways of achieving this.

Secondary information