Delivered by Permanent Representative, H.E. Mr. Sven Jürgenson
First off, I want to thank the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the United States, the South African Republic and Belgium for organizing today’s event.
Here in the United Nations we often emphasize the importance of addressing the root causes of conflicts. This issue here might be one of its “best” examples. The illicit extraction and trade of natural resources is one of the fundamental answers to both “why” and “how” armed groups operate in the border areas of Eastern DRC. Conflict resources are a major source of revenue that motivates and sustains armed group activities.
As a result, millions of people have had to leave their homes and thousands have died. Just during the first three months of 2020, MONUSCO has documented over 600 killings by armed groups.
Estonia continues to condemn in the strongest terms the violence perpetrated by the armed groups. We are also worried over the number of human rights abuses and violations, in particular the increase in grave child rights violations and conflict related sexual violence.
But there is more to the harm caused by illegal exploitation of natural resources. It has serious health and environmental ramifications. It has grave financial and social impacts, including child labor. It hampers development and also has a tendency to sour neighborly cross-border relations.
The cross-border element of it also necessitates coordinated cross-border action. It takes a nexus of combined national and regional actions, supported by international efforts, to ensure that funding for armed groups is cut, that human rights abuses are halted and that supply chains follow due diligence. Work done under the ICGLR is a good start and should be strongly enforced. The same applies to initiatives of the Peace, Security and Cooperation Framework. Regional initiatives, however, can only support, not replace national efforts in tackling this problem.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
A two-minute statement is not enough to highlight all the complexities associated with the illegal exploitation and trade of natural resources. But the message should be clear:
It is happening, it is incredibly harmful and it must be stopped.
Thank you
