While the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has been embroiled in political violence for decades, this year has been extraordinary.

Despite a recent peace deal between the DRC and Rwanda signed on June 27, 2025, with U.S. assistance, the violence has been increasing in both countries. The rebel group M23, backed by Rwanda, has been a huge contributing factor to the brutality occurring in the last months against civilians and peace.

This is largely due to the minerals sourced from the Congo, which are used in various technologies, such as your phone or laptop. Rare earths, such as cobalt, coltan, cica and tin are all used in modern-day technology and are sometimes referred to as “blood minerals.”

Because of the intense demand from companies needing their minerals, such as Tesla and Apple, the people of the Congo are being pushed into high-pressure, dangerous and inhumane mining situations.

According to Siddharth Kara, a fellow at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health who was interviewed by NPR, “Cobalt is toxic to touch and breathe — and there are hundreds of thousands of poor Congolese people touching and breathing it day in and day out. Young mothers with babies strapped to their backs, all breathing in this toxic cobalt dust.”

Tualatin students offered their opinions about the mining and violence that allow our technology needs to be met.

“I think it’s pretty sad that people are going through this and living like this,” TuHS sophomore Kambree Metler said.

If you own a cellphone or a laptop, you know that the materials used to build the technology were likely sourced unethically. But we rely on this technology every day to live our lives. Experts like Kara say that by learning about where our products come from and how they were sourced, we can become responsible global consumers in the future.