UN Security Council
2023

rights are an integral part of those processes, notes the promulgation of the law establishing an Armed Defense Reserve in the DRC in May 2023 and calls upon the Government of the DRC to ensure that the Armed Defense Reserve is implemented in a manner supportive of the implementation of the P-DDRCS and ongoing transitional justice and SSR initiatives; 13. Condemns the continued illegal exploitation and trafficking of natural resources, particularly so-called “conflict minerals” like tin, tantalum, tungsten, gold, diamonds, cobalt, and coltan, as well as cocoa, charcoal, timber, and wildlife, by armed groups and criminal networks supporting them, the negative impact of armed conflict on protected natural areas, which undermines lasting peace and development for the DRC, condemns the presence and destructive activities of armed groups in the protected natural areas in the DRC which undermine efforts to ensure the protection of forests, the biosphere and the environment as a whole and encourages the Government of the DRC to strengthen efforts to safeguard those areas, calls on member States of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR)