Here at Enough, we often swap emails with interesting articles and feature stories that we come across in our favorite publications and on our favorite websites. We wanted to share some of these stories with you as part of our effort to keep you up to date on what you need to know in the world of anti-genocide and crimes against humanity work.
Foreign Policy’s Elizabeth Dickinson expanded upon the unlikely but poignant connection made in recent remarks by former Chilean President Michele Bachelet and the challenge of building a stable society in southern Sudan after many years of war. In response to a question from the audience, Bachelet responded that to build a country, people “have to learn how to live together” (Dickinson’s paraphrase).
Congo activists ready to go to extremes to raise awareness for the cause seem to be on the rise, and thanks to them, the news media is taking notice. Tonic.com profiled Chris Jackson, an activist who has committed to run 12 marathons in 12 months to raise funds for Amnesty International and draw attention to the conflict in Congo.
The AP’s Michelle Faul reported on the tension surrounding a growing settlement allegedly inhabited by Rwandans in eastern Congo, in an area controlled by the Tutsi rebel group-turned-political party CNDP. According to an agreement signed by Rwanda and Congo last year, the CNDP fighters were folded into the Congolese army, but the CNDP continues to control – and expand – its territory in eastern Congo. In a place where land ownership has long been an explosive issue, this mini-state, as Faul dubs it, has the potential to set off further conflict.
Human rights lawyer and author Bec Hamilton weighed in on the use of the ICC’s Article 16 to create leverage with Sudan’s ruling party, in response to John Prendergast and George Clooney’s USA Today op-ed and Prendergast’s subsequent elaboration in blog-form. Institutionally, Enough maintains its position, but as always, her perspective as a lawyer is valuable. Here’s a key graft:
The ICC’s work can be suspended by the UN Security Council in the interests of peace, but we should always be clear that the ICC is not a bargaining chip to be used to gain leverage to push for peace. Justice is not a tap to be turned on and off at will by countries looking for leverage – even with the best of intentions. Indeed the very vision behind the creation of the ICC is to break away from this old world view where justice is like any other item in the “leverage toolbox” of pressures and incentives; it should not be seen as a tradable commodity.
PRI’s The World featured the new album Nkolo by Lokua Kanza, a singer, songwriter, and guitarist from Bukavu in eastern Congo, for a recent Global Hit segment. The piece features Kanza’s music much more than his interesting life story, but the tracks are melodic and the podcast makes for easy listening as the week ends.