The epidemic of rape and sexual violence in the Congo takes center stage in an all-new episode of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, airing on Wednesday night.
Portraying the world's worst violence against women -- taking place half a world away in Central Africa -- in a TV show set in New York City is a challenge. But Law and Order: SVU creator Neal Baer and writer Dawn DeNoon have managed to convey the facts on the ground in Congo through the eyes of a Congolese woman portrayed in the episode.
Eastern Congo is the world's deadliest conflict globally since WWII. Widespread rape is used as a strategy of war and an instrument of communal terror, making this region the world's most dangerous place to be a woman or a girl. Armed groups compete to control lucrative mines and smuggling routes. Rape becomes their principal means of terrorizing local populations into passive compliance, so they can steal the mineral wealth without opposition. These crimes destroy families, decimate communities, and lethally spread HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.
There are few other conflicts in the world where the link between our consumer appetites and massive human suffering is so direct.
The armed groups perpetuating the violence generate hundreds of millions of dollars each year by trading in four main minerals: tin, tantalum, tungsten (the "three Ts") and gold. These minerals are essential to our cell phones, laptops and other electronics.
As consumers, we must speak up and demand that the top electronics companies produce conflict-free products. By removing conflict minerals from the equation in Congo, we remove the fuel from the fire. Write to the top electronics companies and tell them you want them to start producing conflict-free phones and laptops.
"Witness" marks the second collaboration between SVU and the Enough Project. Last March the SVU team partnered with Enough to give viewers a deeper understanding of the plight of survivors of the 22-year war in Northern Uganda waged by the Lord's Resistance Army.
As we have seen with other war crimes and crimes against humanity around the globe, change will only come when there is a concerted effort to deal with the problem, and perpetrators are held accountable for their actions.
Gandhi once said, "Whatever you do may seem insignificant to you, but it is most important that you do it." Once you finish reading this blog or watching tomorrow's episode, you have an opportunity to be not just readers, not just viewers, but agents of life-saving change. As we celebrate International Women's Month this month -- of all months -- no matter who you are, no matter where you are, your role as a witness who takes action is crucial. Seize the opportunity to take action on behalf of Congo's women and girls. "It is most important that you do it."
To learn more visit www.raisehopeforcongo.org.
Mariska Hargitay is an advocate, actress and activist who appears in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Mariska is the Founder and President of the Joyful Heart Foundation. www.joyfulheartfoundation.org. John Prendergast is Co-founder of Enough, the anti-genocide project at the Center for American Progress. John is co-author with Don Cheadle of the forthcoming Random House book, "The Enough Moment."
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I also signed on to the campaign and sent the email to the companies on the list. Easy just one-click, 21 companies and was surprised to already hear back from Nintendo. The company states it is committed to making sure the components are conflict-free.
And, yeah, in a sense, it is "feel good" activism. But, isn't that the main reason any of us do "good"? To feel good about ourselves? To satisfy a need to help others? Altruism after all is an innatedrive for Homo sapiens. Science now shows that.
What I really like about this idea is that it uses market forces to address human problems exacerbated by market forces. Isn't it pounded into our heads by the Randian Right that the Free Market is ... well... everything?
So if it's the market demand and the profit motive that's fueling these atrocities and exacerbating old divisions, address it using market forces.
For those who translate everything---even human savagery---into money, speak the language they understand. Enough letters of complaint, and electronics market will start to worry about losing money. Look what bad p.r. did to the fur industry. Killed it dead.
I like it.
Thanks, Ms. H.
And please do not say... "so what can we do?"
There is a lot we can do, first by really doing the research into the conflict. Understand the history of the conflict, who is fighting, why they are fighting and where the money is flowing.
If you want something to do: write your Congressman and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to pressure the French and German governments to arrest the FDLR rebel leaders who walk freely on the streets of Paris and Berlin while pocketing millions of dollars from the war. That is where our attention should be focused.
Turn off your TV, pick up a book and get serious about this issue. If you really want to help that is. Most of you do not, you just want to feel better about yourselves pretending to do something while these people continue to suffer.
Better suggest that people learn more about the issue, support groups who are actually helping the victims (to use the SVU terminology) to get the medical assistance they need and to help deal with the social issues they face.
Most data from Eastern DRC shows a very distinctive shift of rape patterns from perpetration by militias and armed groups to perpetration by civilians - neighbors and people in the community, a terrible result of a general situation of violence and lack of basic security in communities. This is a long term social and cultural problem and will not be solved by people writing their laptop company.
And while I am at it, sexual violence is just one part of a whole panoply of violence in the region, ALL of which is awful. Why dont we get some celebrities focussing on the totality of the violence? Some of the media coverage of the sexual violence has begun to reek of morbid fascination. It is not in any way honouring the survivors and focussing on their needs.
I try not from China for example.
I did sign the petition.
I doubt it will effect the levels of violence at all.
This type of extreme violence of noncombatants is not about money.
This is about hatred. Tutsis and Hutus have been fighting each other for about 600 years.
It only stops when order is imposed on them by outside sources.
Its no different than the Balkans.
Last I looked we imported these products.
Is it any different in the Congo.
What. do we go about it. Cannot think of a fairway. Cannot tell much difference between rebels and the govt in many African countries. If we stop buying who will suffer the most?
We know our own problems from the US. If there is a market there will be a supplier.
If we stopped buying from the Congo then their minerals will simply be supplied by another country even though the minerals originate in the Congo.
There is a limit to what we can do.
Perhaps, the US should stop being the world's parent and policeman. We seem to make matters worse as we have enemies with cash that are willing to supply our enemies with weapons and smuggling.
What is easier to smuggle? Heroin or other drugs, or gold, tin, precious gems or whatever.
I do not know the answer but I do know that despite our best intentions we tend to meddle and make things worse not better.
Well, for one thing I hardly think I am somehow promoting America-as-Globocop by contacting the major electronics firms and telling them that as a consumer of their products and a concerned world citizen (I did not see where Mariska was just asking *Americans* to speak up BTW), I want to support companies that obtain their resources in an ethical manner.
Nor do I think the analogy to charity works, for the simple reason that promting conflict-free goods is hardly the same thing as promoting dependency on a handout.
I've read about the terrible conditions in Congo before, and they are horrifying. I would very much prefer not to give unintended support to those who are committing the violence in that area, which is why I signed on to the petition.
Whatever you require to emotionally check-out I suppose....
The problem is there is too much frivolous entertainment like reality shows and mediocre competition shows and not enough shows with substance like Law and Order SVU.
L&O became pretty much unwatchable.
SVU is getting there. It used to be appointment TV.
Now its might tune in TV.
I believe there really are enough people who are willing to put in more effort that merely writing letters, but we're waiting for someone to formulate a plan that has some feasibility.
There have been success stories in Africa. After the 1994 genocide, Rwanda has shown amazing growth and development, both economically and socially. Economists and politically scientists could study their success and find ways to apply those lessons to their neighboring countries.
I could spend all day coming up with ideas that could lead to practical solutions but the charity group I've ever been a part of that seems to listen is Habitat for Humanity. The rest just want to blame the government and evil corporations and feel good about themselves for writing letters and "raising awareness".