This is Modern Slavery, instead of sugar cane, it is now tin. Thank you all for making this documentary. One can see how dangerous it can be to report such issues in Africa. It is heart breaking to see the miners with close ups on their bare feet, their mud-covered bodies, and make-do head light gear. It is equally touchy to watch what the carriers go through, and what a sick person must endure on top of their illness. We need to stop buying electonics produced by tin mined and traded this way and those mines will shut down. It was heart breaking to see those working conditions on the workers and to hear their individual stories. Are the workers in these electronics factories not wearing safety boots, protective gloves, nose masks all everything else? I watched an ad on wildlife protection that says "when the buying stops, the killing will also stop". We shouls stop buying electronics using Blood TIN. I hope to see a PART TWO, call it "Where Congo's Tin Eds Up!"

and the horror continues in Africa - WHEN will the world intervene???

Hi
This is Mohammed Khalid from Dubai, UAE.

Its amazing how Jonathan went and capture this documentary in the jungles of Congo and the struggle of life of those involved in the mining. Must watch. Regds, MOHAMMED KHALID

This was unquestionably one of the worst reports I have ever seen on CNN.

About two-thirds of this report was spent describing the appalling conditions the cassiterite miners and porters endure and the remainder was spent trying to find someone accountable.

Unsurprisingly, the exploitation of the world’s poor still occurs, so nothing new there.

The report established some issues

1) The military control of the mining region is something that needs investigation
2) The conditions of the workers is bad

But as for the local traders who buy and process the ore – the report failed to establish if they were trading illegally or even just unethically.

The report failed to prove any wrong doing on the part of these traders, in actual fact, the report clearly points out than the target of culpability has been doing business in Congo for over 40 years, through the regimes of Mobutu and Kabila.

I have to question the objective of the reporter.

If he was he trying to show an unjust situation, then he partly succeeded.
If was trying to find a culprit, he failed miserably.
If he was trying to divert attention from the totally abysmal US situation in Iraq, then he partly succeeded.

And if he was trying to prove himself as serious reporter, the final few minutes of the report speak for themselves. After being questioned and held by the army over night, having his passport confiscated and returned the next morning, our valiant reporter was on the first boat out. And then to blame someone who had been totally honest with him. He quotes Mr. Kotecha, in saying that if he didn’t buy the ore, someone else would, and it’s better for the to earn something than nothing. Can’t really be more honest than that!

This was truly shoddy reporting.

The growing number of contries legalizing gay marriage is an indicator of how being gay is NOT a choice. Airing well-known right wing religious beliefs about homosexuals only spreads ignorance. Showing a "doctor" with a tennis racket does not seem like a very reliable source. How dare you!
Doug Istanbul

You can rule out US intervention. They are only interested in countries with oil.

It is impossible to truly comprehend the horrors these miners endure every day. What really disturbs me is knowing that in a few days this story will fade away and be forgotten. A year from now these miners will still be forced to work in inhuman conditions for nothing more than the right to come back again tomorrow.

Acutally this was a very good report in your new series "The World's Untold Stories" and I wrote about it at my blog before the program aired here in Europe on March 30th. The author of this CNN post may want to read my piece in order to gain even more insight and detail about this story.

To refute the claim by what's his face from Copenhagen that "this is one of the worst reports that I have seen on CNN..." it should be pointed out that the original investigative report "Congo's Tin Soldiers" by the U.K.'s Channel 4 News team with Jonathan Miller was awarded a coveted news media award back in 2005 along with the well known advocacy group Global Witness.

The only complaint about the report that I had is that your CNN anchor Colleen McEdwards did not mention that the report originally aired in the U.K. in July 2005 on Channel 4 News. I'm in Germany and we don't receive Channel 4 here, so this is the first time I've watched the report on TV.

It would be interesting to learn more about the present-day situation of these child miners and about the sleazy demand-supply chain of corrupt businessmen and DRC government officials that keep this dirty trade in human slavery going. There is no such thing as legal mining activities in the DR Congo, any one who has done even a little bit of research about the country over the past 10 years would know that.

Again, bravo and thanks for reporting this important story. The "significant eyes" of the blogosphere are upon you at The World's Untold Stories and we like what we are seeing so far.

An interesting story on Congolese tin mining. The situation in tin mirrors that seen in coltan mining in the same country a few years back. However the report was marred by at least one significant factual error that throw into question the accuracy of the entire report. The biggest mistake was to say tin is the most traded contract on the London Metal Exchange. That is not true. Turnover in tin is generally ranks amongst the lowest of the six main metal contracts. Aluminum and copper are far larger.

An error so obvious and easily checked suggests that the report’s research leaves something to be desired and waters down its impact.

One could also argue that tin which I believe recently rallied to above $17,000 a tones, reached a contract high rather than a ten-year peak.

Secondly, the report seemed slightly biased and more-or-less tarred the entire tin industry with one brush.

Most of the world’s tin is mined in Indonesia and China, where condition though still tough, are not as brutal as those in Congo.

All credit to Jonathan Miller and his team for bringing to our attention the plight of the oppressed people of DR Congo. With no regard for their personal safety,I truly admire their courage.
I find it disturbing that this sort of anarchy can flourish in this day and age.
I hear words like globalization, a world economy, a global village, and yet this kind of exploitation is rife in 'third world' countries.
Isn't time we took responsibility for ensuring that EVERYONE has the right to live and work without
being constantly in fear for their lives. It's always the same story, corruption and greed without regard for human life and dignity. I think the people of DR Congo deserve better. It's time we stopped regarding them as 'Congolese' and started thinking of them as world citizens. When are we going to stop worrying about profits and do what's morally correct?
For goodness sake HELP THESE PEOPLE!!

This document is a good example of the power of television to convey an experience of conditions of the current world. Sometimes there is no need to implicate anyone or prove any illegal activities. The experience is enought to cause consequences in the long term.

I have my home in USA and travel frequently around the world.

What's really sad is it is nearly impossible to see this quality of reporting and story development from CNN United States.

I inevitably look forward to watching CNN when I travel because I remember the reporting.

This ranks as my favorite in depth CNN story to date.

My second favorite is from 1996 when CNN did a report on the Congo river between the two cities of Kinshasa and Kisangani. I was in college then and still remember how impactful that reporting was.

Please, if CNN people read this, raise the awareness of these stories and actually RUN them in the USA. It would get me to watch CNN again in USA.

How can a government accept those subhuman work conditions for their citizen!
Worst than this situation in Democratic Republic of Congo, is the position from the countries that are buying those Tin, produced under such conditions. They are conniving with this situation. Lower operational costs resulted by modern slavery working procedures.
The pressure to stop this has to start over the countries ("first" world countries) that are importing Tin from DR of Congo.
Congratulations to CNN for its initiative!

Hi,Iam Albert KITENGE,citizen of the Democratic Republic of Congo,as a congolese and working for the only mining company to which 06 mining titles were officially granted by the State;Bisiye is one of them.It as been a year since we received the documents and are struggling to get control of our mining concessions because the armed men (militias and state soldiers)are in control of the area.Yes Jonathan's report is correct but as HK GADHIA,COPENGHAN mentionned in his comments;this report is not complet.Why the names of the traders are not revealed,why he never met us to find out more,we were ready to provide him with all the proof that we are currently the mining titles holders.As a Senior Manager in the company I am prepare to email him our documents to confirm my words.
The truth is that the armed men are sendind wrong signal to the congolese army headquarter by pretending that the area is still volatile so they can remain in that locatiobn and continue to treat the poor population the way Jonathan mentionned.
The President of the country might not have the correct report on the situation because what is hapening in Bisiye is covered by a very strong network from the WALIKALE territory to the main city of DRCONGO/KINSHASA.
Jonathan ,please feel free to get in touch with to get the clear picture of what going in Bisiye.
The times as come for us(congolese people)to live like any one in this World really.
Albert KITENGE NGONGO,
albertkitenge@yahoo.com
Albert.Ngongo@kivuresources.com
+243990904423
+27825356007

Does the documentary say, in which provence this is all taking place?

The supply of Congolese tin wouldn't be there without the unwitting demand of electronic consumers...people such as myself? In addition to the horror of the deplorable mining conditions is the equally appalling realization that most of us are clueless of our own culpability. Is it even possible to make concientious choices?

I must commend the reporter on the lengths to which he went to highlight the failings - not just of the DRC government, but crusially also Western governments and those of states such as China - in allowing this state of affairs to continue in the 21st century. Our governments deserve little or no respect for spending so much on invading Iraq, but apparently not spending a fraction of that in encouraging the DRC to sort out this tragic situation.

Equally, I feel constrained to echo the comments made below by the viewer from Copenhagen about the reporter's motives. Was the reporter out for a good story, possibly even at the cost of being inaccurate or disingenuous? I have been accosted by authorities in different parts Africa twice for attemting to take pictures of what were clearly privately-owned areas - including in Uganda, a more developed state. The reporter appears to have shielded himself from legal action by "speculating" about his so-called "arrest", but this may not be apparent to the untrained viewer. I looked up the story elsewhere on the internet out of interest and read somewhere that the reporter subsequently received an award/sponsorship from the NGO that accompanied him on his trip. It is increasingly upsetting to read media reports that twist facts in order to make them sensational. While I don't know whether the businessman in question was responsible for the reporter's plight, my gut certainly compels me to give the businessman the benefit of the doubt.

With little time nowadays to do anything other than skim through stories and be judgemental, I wish some in the media would adopt a more responsible attitude.