As international community gathers this Thursday, Enough Project urges donors to prioritize fight against illicit financial flows and ending impunity for those who perpetuate violence and steal country’s wealth
Washington, DC: Tomorrow, the European Union in partnership with the Government of the Central African Republic (CAR) will host the Brussels Conference. At the Conference, representatives of the international community will meet to discuss how donors can provide support to CAR and the government of President Faustin Archange Touadéra.
Enough Project experts are available for comment and analysis.
Brad Brooks-Rubin, Director of Policy at the Enough Project, said: “The Brussels donor conference has an opportunity to change the dynamics of conflict and corruption in CAR, or to perpetuate the status quo while providing humanitarian relief. This is the fifth donor conference in ten years. In order for this effort to be different and achieve lasting results, the international community must balance its attention to the immediate needs of the people with the long-term goals of enabling good governance, rooting out corruption, and eliminating the incentives for armed groups to continue fighting instead of pursuing peace.”
Holly Dranginis, Senior Policy Analyst at the Enough Project, said: “Among many daunting priorities to discuss in Brussels, donors must elevate accountability for serious crimes. Plans for a Special Criminal Court are emerging as a bright spot in CAR’s justice landscape. This is an area where international support is sorely needed to support the demands of civil society, who want and deserve to see prosecutions for gross human rights violations and financial crimes like trafficking and money-laundering. The discussions in Brussels, if bold and pragmatic, could lead to new justice models for the entire region.”
Sasha Lezhnev, Associate Director of Policy at the Enough Project, said: ” In CAR, the system of violent kleptocracy has been at the heart of a state of permanent war. In this system, competing networks of actors within the government and armed groups, enabled by foreign powers and the business community, are engaged in armed conflict and corruption to protect personal interests. Breaking with a long history of violence means that the international community must change its strategy by ending rampant impunity and fighting against illicit financial flows.”
Read Brooks-Rubin’s op-ed on the conference, published this week in Jeune Afrique: op-ed in French and English translation.
For media inquiries or interview requests, please contact:
Greg Hittelman, Director of Communications, +1 310 717 0606, [email protected].
About THE ENOUGH PROJECT
The Enough Project, an atrocity prevention policy group, seeks to build leverage for peace and justice in Africa by helping to create real consequences for the perpetrators and facilitators of genocide and other mass atrocities. Enough aims to counter rights-abusing armed groups and violent kleptocratic regimes that are fueled by grand corruption, transnational crime and terror, and the pillaging and trafficking of minerals, ivory, diamonds, and other natural resources. Enough conducts field research in conflict zones, develops and advocates for policy recommendations, supports social movements in affected countries, and mobilizes public campaigns. Learn more – and join us – at www.EnoughProject.org.