It is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a woman – or a Christian. Disease is rampant, and children as young as 4 are being forced to work in mines.

The Democratic Republic of Congo is 95% Christian, yet the faithful are being targeted by jihadists. Just last month, Islamist ADF terrorists, who want the eastern part of the country to become a Muslim Caliphate, rounded up 70 Christians and beheaded them – in a church.

Women are under threat too. According to the U.N., 895 cases of rape were reported in the last two weeks of February alone – an average of more than 60 a day.

In the east, “Sexual violence and human rights abuses remain rampant, as is the looting and destruction of civilian homes and businesses,” Patrick Eba, deputy director of UNHCR’s Division of International Protection, said this week.

Boys working at a mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo. (ILO/UNICEF)

“The conflict in the DRC is essentially about control of critical minerals”, Cronje, an advisor for the Yorktown Foundation for Freedom, continued. “Scores of rebel groups and some state actors are engaged in the conflict. The two Kivu provinces contain vast deposits of these minerals that could be used in applications from defense and AI to green energy.”

Bill Roggio, senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) and editor of the Long War Journal, told Fox News Digital, “I would argue that the minerals are only partially, or even tangentially, related. The main violence plaguing Congo runs from regional political issues, like Rwanda/M23 (rebel group), to ethnic like CODECO, (an association of militia groups) to religious, like Islamic State Central Africa Province, aka ADF, (rebel group) to just general localized banditry. And some groups do control and make money from artisanal mines, but not all.”

And, for more than a decade, children in some DRC areas have faced extreme exploitation and abuse, reportedly from China, forced to mine deep underground in its quest for metals such as cobalt. An estimated 70% of the world’s cobalt is produced in the DRC, according to Michigan State University’s Global Edge Research Organization. China is said to either own, or co-own with the DRC’s government, 80% of the DRC’s cobalt mines.

Red Cross workers clear the area in Bukavu, east Congo’s second-largest city, one day after it was taken by M23 rebels, on Feb. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Janvier Barhahiga)

This modern-day child slavery continues despite outcry. A report to a joint House and Senate Committee in November 2023 stated that the DRC “is a country that has been brutally pillaged throughout history, fueled by corrupt men’s unquenchable thirst for power, riches, land, rubber, copper, palm oil, and now cobalt, all at the expense of innocent women, men, and children.” 

“Children as young as 4 are forced to mine cobalt, “Jason Isaac told Fox News Digital last year. Isaac is the founder and CEO of the American Energy Institute. 

The FDD’s Bill Roggio told Fox News Digital there are steps the Trump administration could take, “from counter-terrorism against one of IS’ most active global branches (ISCAP) to walking back a potential massive regional war, or even to improving good governance, a more stable, secure and prosperous Congo would do wonders for the global economy and regional security.”