Peer-reviewed article
When mining reshapes bodies and destinies: trafficking, gender-based violence and resilience among rural women in Kalehe and Kabare in South Kivu.
Cikuru Kamera C, Mubalama Bizuri E, Nshokano Bahizire J, Bwemere Kamera P, Muderhwa G ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This qualitative study examines how artisanal mining in South Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo, creates conditions that make rural women and girls vulnerable to trafficking and gender-based violence. The research found that trafficking is rooted in chronic poverty, constrained mobility, and patriarchal norms rather than only dramatic conflict-related violence. While mining offers some women economic independence through income and mobility, these opportunities remain fragile and embedded within exploitative gender structures that appropriate women's labour and bodies.
Key points
- Trafficking and sexual violence in mining areas are rooted in gradual, normalised, invisible processes linked to chronic poverty and constrained mobility rather than only spectacular forms of violence
- Mining sites offer limited spaces of economic empowerment for women through independent income, increased mobility and solidarity networks
- Women's economic opportunities remain highly conditioned by gendered extractive structures that appropriate both their labour and bodies
- The study identifies a continuum between economic survival strategies and forms of exploitation, with access to mining income embedded in asymmetrical power relations
- Fragmented governance of mining sites and patriarchal norms institutionalise domination of women and girls
Limitations
This is a qualitative study with an inductive approach using semi-structured interviews and focus groups, so findings describe mechanisms and patterns rather than measuring prevalence or testing interventions. The study does not evaluate the effectiveness of any specific protection or prevention programme.
Abstract
Introduction Artisanal mining in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), particularly in the territories of Kabare and Kalehe in South Kivu, constitutes an ambivalent social space where economic opportunities, structural precarity and gender-based violence intersect. Drawing on an inductive, multi-sited qualitative approach, this study examines the life trajectories of rural women and girls who are directly or indirectly involved in artisanal mining economies, with the aim of analysing the social, economic and political mechanisms that produce and sustain their vulnerability to trafficking and sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV). Methods This study adopts an inductive approach and draws on a range of data collection techniques, including semi-structured interviews, focus groups and an in-depth literature review. The study highlights a continuum between economic survival strategies and forms of exploitation, in which access to mining-related income is embedded within asymmetrical power relations, the invisibilisation of women's labour, and institutionalised practices of domination. Results The findings show that, far from being limited to spectacular forms of violence in contexts of armed conflict, the trafficking of women and girls is rooted in gradual, normalised, and often invisible processes linked to chronic poverty, constrained mobility, patriarchal norms, and the fragmented governance of mining sites. While mining sites offer limited spaces of economic empowerment for women, through access to independent income, increased mobility and solidarity networks these opportunities remain fragile and highly conditioned by gendered extractive structures that appropriate both women's labour and bodies. Discussion By uncovering the "silent cradles" of trafficking in rural mining areas, this article contributes to the literature on gender, extractivism and human security, advocating for a structural analysis of gendered violence that moves beyond humanitarian and securitised frameworks.