Over 700 Children Exploited in Mining Sites in Haut-Uélé
More than 700 children have been exploited at mining sites in Menze and Babarau, Haut-Uélé province, for the past seven months, according to an alert from the NGO Network of Environmentalists and Natural Resources Communicators, issued on July 24 in Isiro.
The report highlights that these children are subjected to heavy labor in artisanal quarries, including transporting minerals, putting them at risk of various diseases. Girls are especially vulnerable, often forced into small-scale donut businesses and facing the threat of sexual violence.
Dieu Merci Thuambe, coordinator of the NGO, has called on authorities to take urgent action to sanction those responsible for these practices and hold mining site operators accountable.
