Congo Gold Episode of ‘60 Minutes’ Nominated for Emmy

Nominations are out for the 62nd annual Emmy Awards, and Enough is thrilled and honored to learn that the Congo Gold episode of CBS’ “60 Minutes” was nominated for television’s biggest award of the year. The Enough team in Washington and in Africa’s Great Lakes region collaborated with “60 Minutes” producers Solly Granatstein and Nicole Young and correspondent Scott Pelley to research and shoot the documentary. Enough Co-founder John Prendergast and our newest addition to the field team – eastern Congo researcher Fidel Bafilemba – both appear in the piece.

In consultation with Enough and Human Rights Watch, the “60 Minutes” crew investigated the trail of Congo’s conflict gold from rebel-held mines through Uganda and on to U.S. consumers. They also captured footage illustrating the conditions in gold mines, where children as young as 11 work to pull the valuable metal out of the earth. Watch the segment:
 

CBS also featured an extended interview with John Prendergast and this collection of photos by Enough consultant Sasha Lezhnev.

Since it aired last November, the Congo Gold segment has proved to be an important resource for spreading the word about the conflict in eastern Congo and the role of the minerals trade in fueling the fighting. It helped galvanize the growing movement of Congo advocates across the United States, and provided a valuable illustration of the problem to members of Congress, who succeeded in including a landmark provision about conflict minerals in the financial reform legislation passed yesterday.

We wish our friends at “60 Minutes” the very best at the award ceremony on July 31.

• 60Minutes
• Raise Hope for Congo
• Eastern Congo
• Conflict Minerals