UN Chief’s support for cross-border responsible trade “innovative and important”
February 24, 2016 (Kinshasa and Washington, DC) – The Enough Project lauded remarks today by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the opening session of the Great Lakes Private Sector Investment Conference in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Sasha Lezhnev, Associate Director of Policy at the Enough Project, said: “Ban’s initiative to spur cross-border responsible investment in the Great Lakes region is innovative and important. Economics are a critical yet neglected element of peacebuilding, and the UN, U.S., and multinational companies should work to help ensure that new investments in the Great Lakes are fully transparent and benefit local communities.”
Holly Dranginis, Senior Policy Analyst at the Enough Project, said: “The illicit natural resource trades that have helped fuel violence in this in this region require coercive responses like criminal accountability, but they should also be displaced by positive, responsible trade. Ban’s leadership this week sends a strong signal that it’s high time Congo’s resources are used to the benefit of the nation as a whole, no longer an elite few.”
Yesterday, the Enough Project released its newest report “POINT OF ORIGIN: Status Report on the Impact of Dodd-Frank 1502 in Congo,” documenting local views on initiatives to increase security and transparency in eastern Congo’s mining trade, including the U.S. Dodd-Frank section 1502 “conflict minerals” regulations.
The in-depth report cites a growing roster of verified “conflict-free” mines, a decrease of resources going to armed groups, a reduction in cross-border militia support from neighboring countries, and a burgeoning sense of local security and hope among citizens and local leaders in some mining communities freed from control of violent militias. The report also details collateral problems associated with reforms that remain to be addressed, including high level corruption and limited alternative livelihoods for artisanal miners.
Press release and overview of ”Point of Origin” report
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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