Wall Street Journal Highlights Congo’s Conflict Gold Trade: U.S. Should Sanction Smugglers
This morning the Wall Street Journal published an exposé on the conflict gold trade from eastern Congo, which is worth an estimated $285-400 million per year. The article details the lucrative trade in conflict gold as it is transported from mines in eastern Congo to smugglers in Uganda and Burundi and then to jewelers and dealers in Dubai and India. As the piece highlights, conflict gold is an increasingly important issue for jewelers and the gold industry, as there now exists a “shadowy chain of smuggled gold that stretches from the conflict zones of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...
5 Stories You Might Have Missed This Week
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A weekly round-up of must-read stories, posted every Friday ...
New Initiative Offers Hope for Survivors of Sexual Violence in Congo
On April 11, the Group of Eight, or G8, a forum of the world’s wealthiest countries, pledged to spend $35.4 million on preventing rape and sexual violence from being used as a weapon of war. The new fund will also benefit initiatives that put women and women's rights front and center in conflict resolution and devote resources to deterring and investigating wartime sexual atrocities and bringing the perpetrators responsible to justice. The U.S. will contribute $10 million to the new fund, which is spearheaded by British Foreign Minister William Hague and film star and U.N. Special Envoy Angelina Jolie. This ...
As Young as Twelve: South Sudan’s Child Marriage Epidemic
A recent video published by Human Rights Watch tells the story of Mary. At the age of 14 she was forced to marry, and soon after she attempted to leave her husband. To prevent her from leaving, he beat her so hard that she collapsed to the floor, and then pulled out an axe to continue the beating. Mary held up her arm in an attempt to defend herself as her husband sought to strike her in the head. The axe blade cut her arm deeply, but her head remained uninjured. Had she not raised her arm in self-defense, her ...
One Million Bones Nationwide Movement Comes to D.C.
The Enough Project is excited to announce its’ partnership with One Million Bones, a large-scale social arts practice founded by Naomi Natale that uses education and art to raise awareness of genocide and mass atrocities. From June 8-10, 2013, they are hosting an installation on the National Mall as a unique symbol of our common humanity and a call to action, followed by an Advocacy Day hosted by the Enough Project. The installation will consist of one million “bones,” made by activists around the country and meant to symbolize and honor lives lost through genocide and those still under threat ...
5 Stories You Might Have Missed This Week
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A weekly round-up of must-read stories, posted every Friday ...
The Hill Op-ed: The case against Sudanese President Omar al Bashir
The tenth anniversary of the genocide in Darfur has focused renewed attention on the crimes that the Sudanese regime has committed against its people and the pending International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrants for President Omar al Bashir and other Sudanese officials. But the fact that the regime’s crimes extend far beyond Darfur and continue to this day has remained under the radar ...
Lord’s Resistance Army Updates: Rewards for Justice Expands while Military Efforts Stall
On Wednesday April 3, the State Department announced the names of individuals wanted for war crimes and crimes against humanity, under its recently expanded Rewards for Justice Program, including fugitives sought by the International Criminal Court from the Lord’s Resistance Army, or LRA, and a brutal Congolese rebel group ...
Youth in Congo, Extractive Industries, and the Rule of Law
On Wednesday, March 13, the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative, or ABA ROLI, hosted a conference on emerging issues in the rule of law. Panelists from ABA ROLI, international development organizations, the U.S. government, and U.N. agencies covered topics including the effects of the “youth bulge” – when populations are comprised of a large share of children and young adults – on democracy and governance promotion, human rights accountability for extractive industries, NGO’s use of technology to fight corruption, and structural gender-based discrimination in health care systems. Audio highlights from the day can be accessed here ...
Policy Alert: The United States and Uganda Should Remain Committed to Ending the Lord’s Resistance Army
The Ugandan army has suspended its operations against the Lord’s Resistance Army, or LRA, in the Central African Republic, or CAR, and U.S. military advisors have also suspended their counter-LRA operations in the country. According to sources, the Ugandan government is divided about remaining in CAR, with some using recent developments in Bangui as an argument for a speedy end to counter LRA operations ...
