Category: Blog

In a new policy brief released today, the Enough Project’s Jennifer Christian calls for an increased international response to the humanitarian crisis in Sudan, particularly in the delivery of aid throughout the states of South Kordofan and Blue Nile. The report, “Shifting the Burden: The Responsibility to Protect Doctrine and the Humanitarian Crisis in Sudan,”cites the responsibility to protect doctrine, or R2P, as the guiding principle by which the international community must operate ...

On September 5, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir called on the African Union to legislate protection of African space against “spy satellites.” Bashir, who has been indicted by the International Criminal Court, spoke at a telecommunications conference in Khartoum, pushing for a unified continent-wide space agency ...

After enduring 45 days of detainment, beatings, torture, a trial in Sudanese court, and two arrests, Rudwan Dawod is free and back with his family in the United States. And although Dawod’s nightmare is finally over, many other political prisoners and human rights activists in Sudan still remain in custody ...

A weekly round-up of must-read stories, posted every Friday (or on occasion, on Saturday) ...

With Sudanese government-sponsored violence and “forced starvation” stretching well into a second year in the embattled Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile states, a group of more than 60 scholars specializing in genocide studies appealed to U.S. leadership to act on its “moral authority” to deliver food aid to civilian populations ...

Editor's Note: This oped by Sojourners CEO Jim Wallis originally appeared on Huffington Post. We live in a globalized world. Our neighbors are no longer only the people who live next door but include all of those whose lives are connected to our own. It's almost impossible to go a day without using or eating something that doesn't have parts or labor from a country or a person halfway across the world ...

On August 27, Ohio University’s Bobcats for a Conflict-free Campus claimed a victory two years in the making, becoming the 12th U.S. school to pledge a commitment to giving preference to conflict-free electronics products. Student leaders Ellie Hamrick and Jack Spicer wrote this guest blog post about strategies they used to advocate for the university to take a stand ...

Sudan and South Sudan negotiations resumed Wednesday with meetings in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, with time closing in on a September 22 deadline by which the mediation panel should submit its final report. In this last round of negotiations, the parties hope to resolve outstanding issues from the separation to secure sustained peace between the two countries. In a new Enough brief released today, Amanda Hsiao, the Enough Project’s Juba-based field researcher, outlines the key issues and analyzes where each side stands ...

As documented in a new report from the Enough Project, which ranks electronics firms on their progress in cleaning up their supply chains of conflict minerals, there are glimmers of hope for eastern Congo despite ongoing violence there, which is driven partly by conflict minerals. When we visited Congo late last year, we met activist Amani Matabaro when we first arrived in Bukavu, South Kivu province. His story, his work, and his passion were featured as part of Raise Hope for Congo's video series "I Am Congo." ...

The widespread nature of violence in eastern Congo today is often described as being the result of a security vacuum: The attention of the Congolese army and the U.N. peacekeepers is focused on M23, leaving other parts of the volatile region vulnerable to local armed groups. This is surely part of the story. But there is also reason to believe that these local militias are receiving backing from outside actors ...